
Class 
Book. 



\j 1 






GcpigM?. 



/ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 



^r 



I 





a£ %DU6$e£iuAM 



TO MY WIFE: 



My constant companion, my helpmeet, my partner, 
my councilor, I inscribe this little volume as a token of 
appreciation of her devotion to me and our feathered pets. 

The Author. 



— r - 



Southern Poultry Guide 



OR 



Forty Years With Poultry 



ILLUSTRATED 



A PLAIN PRACTICAL TREATISE ON 
THE CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF 
POULTRY FOR PRACTICAL PEOPLE 



BY 



A Plain, Practical Poultryman 

(CAL HUSSELMAX) 



COPYRIGHT 190S BY 

THE SOUTHERN PLANTER PUBLISHING CO. 

Richmond, Va. 



PREFACE. 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Copies Received 

DEC 12 1908 

Copyri^nt fcntry 

CLASS * XXCNo. 
- COPY^X « I 

In the preparation of this volume the aim has been 
to eliminate every difficult and technical feature in every 
step of the work and to give plain, practical facts based 
upon practice and experience. 

In the classification of the various breeds similarity 
of type has been deemed desirable rather than geograph- 
ical grouping. 

Numerous plans and devices have been tested and 
many methods of feeding and housing have been studied 
during the fifty years of farm life of the author and the 
most satisfactory combinations only are given. 

This experience includes the management of a small 
flock with natural incubation, as well as the care and man- 
agement of a very large flock and the use of artificial in- 
cubation and brooding. 

All of the breeds named in the three classes have been 
bred and tested under favorable and unfavorable condi- 
tions and the deductions are made from personal experi- 
ence without prejudice or bias. 

This volume is written for the practical poultry peo- 
ple of the South in the hope that it may prove helpful in 
creating a greater interest in an industry that may be 
made a source of much profit to the farmers of this 
favored section. 

Hearty apreciation is extended for the courtesy, 
encouragement and co-operation of the Editor and Bus- 
iness Manager of the Southern Planter in the publication 
of this volume. 



« i 
< < - 



Cal Husselmaist. 
Richmond, Va., Oct. 17, 1908. 



a ^^ 



N. 



i 



i 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAP. PAGE. 

1. Location, Size of Farm, Soil, Etc 7 

2. Housing the Flock, Yards, Etc 11 

3. Breeds and Breeding )ll 

4. How to Begin 37 

5. Feeds and Feeding 40 

6. Natural and Artificial Incubation 47 

7. Feed and Care of the Chicks 57 

S. Health and Disease 67 

9. Feeding for Market Eggs , . ', 79 

10. The Breeding Pen 84 

11. Marketing Eggs 88 

12. Poultry Enemies 91 

13. Market Poultry 93 

14. General Review 96 

15. Turkeys 101 

16. Ducks 104 

17. Fancy Feathers 107 

18. A Few Points on Economics 109 

19. Selecting Laying Hens 113 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FIG. PAGE. 

1. Large Poultry House 12 

2. Interior of House 16 

3. Interior of House 17 

4. Cluster of Nests, front view 18 

5. Cluster of Nests, inside view 19 

6. Water Fountain 21 

7. Colony House 22 

8. Nest and Broodcoop 49 

9. Nest and Broodcoop, open 50 

10. Brooder House 59 

11. Hot Water Brooder ,...,• 60 

12. Hot Water Brooder, open , 7 62 

13. Cold Brooder 63 

14. Cold Brooder, open j 64 

15. Self-Feeding Box 82 

16. Self-Feeding Box, open 83 

17. One Hundred Eggs for Hatching 88 

18. Pen of S. C. W. Leghorns 90 

12. White Holland Turkey 101 

20. Pekin and Indian Runner Ducks 10 i 



CHAPTER I. 

LOCATION, SIZE OF FARM, SOIL, ETC. 

The history of North America shows that every sec- 
tion has its native birds. Many of them are migratory 
in their habits, while many other species are more per- 
manent in their habitat. Longitude and latitude seem to 
have very little influence on a very large percentage of the 
native feathered tribes found in the United States. 

The wild turkey was originally found in almost every 
state in the Union. The goose, the duck, grouse, quail 
and partridge found congenial conditions everywhere 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Great Lakes 
to the Gulf. The Prairie chicken was common on all the 
great open country west of the Ohio river and birds oi 
lesser size were plentiful in every forest and glade. This 
is evidence of naturally favorable conditions of climate, 
soil, water, food, and all other natural conditions nec- 
essary to the existence of birds and fowls. 

In the settlement of this vast domain by civilized man 
we find the domestic fowls well represented in the home 
and on the farms of the pioneers in every stage of the 
development of the country. The common barnyard fowls 
have been a source of pleasure and profit to every com- 
munity from the earliest settlement on the shores of the 
Atlantic to the present time. Prom this we may learn 
that fowls may be kept on any kind of soil, in every sec- 
tion of this great country. There is no difference in nat- 
ural conditions so great that it interferes with the busi- 
ness sufficiently to make it unprofitable or even uncertain. 



— * 



8 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

Every farm, every home in fact, with a very limited area, 
anywhere in the United States, can be made the home of 
some useful species of domestic fowls. Hence it follows 
that the location of a poultry farm is simply a matter 
of individual desire and taste. ~No one need be deterred 
from entering the business because of imaginary isother- 
mal lines. 

The great centers of population are not always the 
best markets for poultry products. North and South, 
East and West, practically every man, woman and child 
everywhere is a consumer of eggs and poultry and many 
thousands of dollars are annually sent from our shores for 
poultry products that could be produced at good profit 
by the people of the various States. 

The Great South, lying south of the Potomac, Ohio 
and Missouri Rivers, is especially favored by climatic 
conditions favorable to the profitable pursuit of this in- 
dustry. The short, mild winter season, the rolling, open, 
porous character of most of the soils in this great area. 
together with the unlimited supply of pure water, the 
great variety of grasses, grains and leguminous crops that 
can be grown, as well as the close proximity by land and 
water transportation to the great mining, manufacturing 
and commercial centers of consumption make this the nat- 
ural home of every kind and species of land and water 
fowls. 

With a climate similar to that of Spain, Italy and 
France, with better soil and better markets, there is no 
reason why this great section should not produce all of the 
eggs and poultry products required for home consumption 
and some for export. 

The farmers produce grain, beef, pork, butter, larcl 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 9 

and other animal products for export and why not eggs. 
live and dressed poultry ? 

But two conditions are absolutely necessary in the 
successful management of poultry plants and farms and 
these can be secured almost anywhere. These two condi- 
tions are ? dry, roomy quarters and absolute cleanliness 
If one is locating a business and can select a well drained, 
gravelly soil with a southern or eastern exposure, so much 
the better. 

Convenience to transportation facilities should also be 
considered. However we must always bear in mind that- 
poultry products are concentrated products and may be 
transported more economically than the more bulky pro- 
ducts like grain, hay and vegetables and, many times, the 
difference in cost of land, lumber, grain and other neces- 
saries will justify the selection of a location somewhat 
remote from trade centers or transportation facilities. 
One can easily carry five crates of eggs of forty dozen 
each on a small spring wagon with one horse a distance 
of ten miles. The esr^s will bring; on an average twenty 
cents per dozen or forty dollars, whilst to market forty 
dollars worth of grain, hay or vegetables a similar distance 
would require much more time, labor and equipment. 

Many jDeople have sold their homes to locate elsewhere 
thinking to better their conditions only to find later that 
they have gained in some particulars and lost in others. 
The selling of one's home is a serious matter and should 
be carefully considered. 

The ideal location, like the ideal fowl, exist* only in 
the mind and imagination of the dreamer. This book is 
written for plain, practical people with moderate means 
to invest, and the author well knows that everyone cannot 



JO SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

select ideal conditions. Make the best use you can of the. 
location you have or the best location your means will 
permit. j-j" % 

The land is of minor importance. Rather buy cheaper 
land, having a larger range, better buildings, better equip- 
ment, and better stock. Much is said and written about 
intensive poultry culture, keeping large flocks on limited 
areas. The author of this book does not indorse this 
svstem. Failure is almost sure to follow. The soil must be 
kept pure and clean if best results are obtained and this 
Cannot be done where hundreds of fowls are kept in close 
quarters any more than humans can be kept in packed 
tenements and enjoy good health. 

Fowls consume more air and food per pound of live 
weight than animals or man and must have more room, 
more air, and more exercise. Much of the loss from dis- 
ease can be traced directly to this matter of narrow quar- 
ters and close confinement. It is true that fowls may be 
kept in limited quarters and kept healthy, -but it adds 
very much to the labor and increases the risk very greatly. 

The aim should be to locate where one has ample room, 
dry soil, good drainage and good water. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 11 



CHAPTEE II. 

HOUSING- THE FLOCK, YARDS, ETC. 

There are two distinct methods in practical use on the 
various poultry farms in this country. The colony house 
plan, and the long narrow house accommodating from 300 
to 500 laying hens. Both plans have advantages and ob- 
jections. Some prefer the colony plan and some the large 
single house plan with free range. 

Several large two-story houses have been built in dif- 
ferent localities with fair success. After long and careful 
use and study of these various plans I am inclined to the 
large open front house for this country, excepting possibly 
the extreme northern portions of the United States and 
Canada. For the South and Southwest certainly no bet- 
ter house can be designed than the plain open front house 
shown in Fig. 1. 

I deem it wise to give photo-engravings of all houses, 
yards,, coops, nests, feed boxes, etc., and full directions 
and instructions for building them in footnotes to each 
figure. This will enable the reader to take the engraving 
and accompanying notes and see at a glance how to con- 
struct anything desired. Every engraving in this book is 
made from photographs from houses, etc., in actual use 
by the author and found to be practical. 

This house should be built facing the South or South- 
east, on a dry, well-drained, open place. Poultry houses 
should never be located under trees or in a grove. A dry 
sunny exposure is best. 

Where possible four square feet of floor space should 



10, 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



be allowed for each mature bird, thus a house fifty feet 
long by twelve feet wide would accommodate 150 laying 
hens, and a house 100 feet long by twelve feet wide will 




FIG. 1. — This house is sixty-four feet long and ten feet 
wide, with roost poles four and one-half feet long, the entire 
length. The dropping board is five feet wide. This will 
accommodate 500 laying hens of the small breeds, or 400 of 
the large breeds. It has four clusters of nests of eight in each 
cluster. This is room enough for such a flock on free range, 
but, where yarded, not more than half this number should be 
kept in a house of this size. The ends and back wall are 
double boarded, and the front is boarded with ordinary house 
siding lumber. 

To build this house with stud frame, studs two feet from 
centers requires: Thirty-three pieces 2 in. by 4 in. by 6 feet 
long, back wall; eight pieces 2 in. by 4 in. by 7 feet long, ends; 
nine pieces 4 in. by 4 in. by 7y 2 feet long, posts front; twenty- 
four pieces 2 in. by 4 in. by 4 feet long, short studs front; 
thirty-three pieces 2 in. by 4 in. by 12 feet long, rafters; eight 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 13 

pieces 2 in. by 4 in. by 16 feet long, plates; 800' feet drop sid- 
ing, or to double board, 1048 feet %-inch by 8 inch, back and 
ends; and, 300 feet bouse siding for front; 768 feet sheathing; 
eight squares roofing, and 320 feet for dropping board; 160 
square feet wire netting; twenty-two yards drilling; twenty- 
four yards %-inch Manila rope; 100 carriage buttons. 

For grouting wall it will require: 2 barrels Portland cement, 
14 barrels coarse sand and gravel. Labor, eight days. Roost 
poles and nests can easily be calculated. For the medium and 
large breeds, the roost poles should be eighteen inches apart, 
and, for the small breeds, sixteen inches. If three-ply tar 
paper is used for roofing, it should be thoroughly coated with 
hot coal tar and Portland cement made into a thick paint and 
put on as fast as laid. Lay one course and then apply the 
coal tar and cement while hot. Use a short stiff brush and put 
on quite thick and brush out smooth. This will make a very 
satisfactory roof. Renew the coal tar and cement every two 
or three years. 

give ample room for 300 laying hens. Where ample 
range can be given, 500 of the smaller breeds may be 
kept in this large house if it is kept clean and the fowls 
are allowed free range and fed and watered outside dur- 
ing mild and clear weather. 

These large houses are adapted to free range or very 
large yards only. Where the area is limited or where 
several breeds are kept I advise the colony house plan. 

In constr acting all houses for mature stock the earth 
should be graded so as to bring the surface eight or ten 
inches above the general level of the land to afford good 
drainage away from the house in every direction. This 
will give a good dry floor of earth, the best floor for all 
purposes. The best foundation for the building, as well 
as the cheapest, is a four-inch cement wall twelve inches 
high. Dig a trench six inches wide and eight to ten 
inches deep the exact length and width of the foundation. 
Make a form with plank to receive the concrete and hold 
it in the form until it sets hard. This concrete need not be 



14 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

very rich, one part Portland cement to eight parts coarse 
sand and gravel. Mix thoroughly dry, then make into a 
stiff mortar with water and tamp into the trench and 
form until level on top. Trowel top smooth and leave 
in form four to six days when it will be ready for the 
frame. This makes a good, cheap foundation that will 
last for all time, keep rats and minks out and will keep 
gravel straw or any scratching material in the house. 
The house may he built by setting posts in the ground 
and spiking the frame to these, but the concrete is nearly 
as cheap and much better. Some advocate the use of con- 
crete for the entire structure, but it makes a damp house 
and a frame is preferable. 

The house should be six feet high at the back and 
seven feet and six inches in front. The back and end walls 
should be double boarded , or matched lumber should be 
used for siding and the front should be boarded up tightly 
four feet high with a watertable on top, then leave 
thirty inches open, with a good strong six-inch board at 
top. Cover this open front with one-inch mesh netting 
and make a drop curtain thirty-six inches wide out of 
good heavy drilling with a three-eighths-inch rope sewed 
into lower edge to stretch taut and fasten to buttons on 
upper cornice board. If this drilling be painted with 
hot paraflne it will last much longer, but will not venti- 
late the house nearly so well. The roof should be sheathed 
with surfaced boards and covered with tin or some good 
composition roofing. 

Boost poles four feet six inches long should be put 
along the back wall on a level, the entire length of the 
house. These roosts should be made in sections ten feet 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 15 

long in such a way that they may be removed easily for 
cleaning. The best arrangement for this purpose is to 
put screw hooks into the studding of the frame at the back 
and into the rafters for the front side of these sections. 
Then cut a one by four inch board in sections ten feet 
long and bore half-inch holes at the proper distances to 
receive the hooks at the back and suspend the front on 
wire cables from the hooks in the rafters. These boards 
placed edgewise, with nine iron pins one-fourth inch in di- 
ameter and four inches long driven in the upper edges 
sixteen inches apart, and driven into the board one inch, 
leaving them projecting upwards three inches to receive 
the roost poles. These should be not less than three 
inches in diameter with one-fourth inch holes bored in 
each end at proper places to receive the iron. pins. If 
these holes are one inch deep it will leave a space two 
inches between the rail and roost poles. This ; not only 
serves to secure the roosts in a rigid, immovable position, 
but also prevents mites from collecting between the roost 
poles and the railing. By covering these pins with a thin 
coating of coal tar two or three times during the year, 
mites cannot reach the fowls from any part of the house 
and the poles can be lifted off easily and dipped in ker- 
osene oil occasionally, thus effectually cleaning them from 
mites. (Fig. 3.). A dropping board or floor should be 
laid of dressed lumber fourteen inches below the roost 
poles at the back and sixteen inches in front. This floor 
should be five feet wide and the entire length of the 
house. Have this floor three and one-half feet from the 
ground. This makes it very convenient to clean and 
leaves plenty of room underneath for the hens to exer- 



16 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



cise and scratch in the straw and litter, which should be 
liberally supplied during the winter season. 

All corn, wheat, oats and seeds should be scattered 
into this straw litter. Figs. 2 and 3 are cuts of the in- 
terior arrangement of such a house and will be very help- 




FIG. 2. — This cut shows interior or this house. The 
arrangement of roosts, dropping board and nests is clearly 
shown. Ten feet at rear end of house is separated by lath 
partition for broody hens when needed. Nests can also be 
placed under dropping board as shown. 



fnl in showing the construction. This kind of house can 
be built any length, always preserving the same sectional 
proportions. 

I have kept 100 Light Brahma hens in such a house 
twenty feet long during four months of very cold weather 



OS FOETY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 



17 



in the Northwest and did not have a single case of colds, 
roup or catarrh. 

Nests. — A single cluster of eight nests should he 
placed in the front of this house for every twenty feet 
in length. These nests should be made in clusters of six 




FIG. 3. — Shows interior of house with roost poles and close 
view of arrangement of iron pins and wire, with floor removed. 



or eight (see Tigs. 4 and 5) and be placed on brackets 
secured to the front wall sixteen inches from the around. 
Lay a tight floor on these brackets nine feet six inches 
long by twenty-one inches wide. Make nests thirtten inches 
square, inside measure, and twelve inches deep at front of 
lowest side. Make cover at an angle of forty-five degrees 
and hinge lower cover board at upper edge so it can be 



18 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



lifted up to gather eggs, etc. This top is simply placed 
on the floor and can be removed when necessary to clean 
and spray inside. Sweep and spray the floor, turn clus- 



" ■ ■■■ : .■ 






FIG. 4. — This illustrates cluster of eight nests placed out- 
side of the poultry house to get a clear view, with hinged cover 
open. Make floor nine feet six inches long by twenty-one inches 
wide. One floor board seven inches wide should be two feet 
longer. Place this board at rear of floor. This will project 
out one foot at each end for hens to jump up on when entering 
nests. This board serves as the runway for all the nests. 
Lumber cut for this nest should be three-quarter-inch boards; 
six pieces nine and a half feet long by seven inches wide, two 
for floor, four for cover; one piece eleven and a half feet long 
by seven inches wide, long floor board; one piece nine and a 
half feet long by twelve inches wide, front of nests; one piece 
nine and a half feet long by six inches wide, inside for nests; 
nine pieces thirteen inches long by twelve inches wide, ends 
and partitions; four pieces twenty-one inches long cut to square 
mitre, or 12x12 pitch. Nail together, as shown in figures 4 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 



19 



and 5 and hinge lower cover board with three four-inch strap 
hinges. Brackets nailed to studs, sixteen inches from ground, 
to receive floor. Three brackets should be used for each clus- 
ter of nests. 



ter of nests on edge and spray inside, replace on floor and 
put in clean nesting material and it is done. Figs. 4 and 
5 will make this plain. 

Self-feeding boxes for grit, oyster shells and dry mash 
can easily be made along the front of this house by board- 
ing up the space between two studs three feet high with 
a small opening into a V-shaped trough at the bottom. 

Water. — Pure, clean, fresh water is an absolute nec- 
essity. The best device I have ever used for a large 




FIG. 5. 
partitions 



— Inside view of nests, showing arrangement of 



20 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

flock is made as follows : Procure a good sugar or oil 
barrel and saw the staves off around the barrel between 
the second and third hoop. Paint the short end thorough- 
ly inside and out and place this tub under the drop- 
ping board midway of the house on a floor raised one 
foot from the ground on small posts. Next procure a 
wine or brandy cask holding ten gallons. Paint outside 
thoroughly. Cork tightly by driving a plug made from 
some soft wood like poplar or white pine into all open- 
ings. Bore an inch hole in the middle of one head and 
fit a good cork tightly into this hole. Bore a three-fourths 
inch hole into the side of the cask four to five inches 
from opposite end of cask. Pit a cork into this also. Set 
this cask on end with the hole in center of head up^ into 
the tub described above, close the lower opening, open 
the top and fill the cask by pouring the water in the 
chine of the cask. When full cork tightly, fill the space 
in the tub around cask with water to the lower cork; 
then remove the lower cork. As fast as the fowls drink 
the water out below the three-fourths inch hole, air will 
enter the cask and water will flow out. This hole should 
be two inches below the top edge of tub. The raised floor 
will keep the tub well above the straw and litter .and thus 
keep the water clean. (See Fig. 6.) 

Colony Houses. — In the construction of colony 
houses the same general principles should be observed. I 
do not advise the use of small, low houses. 

Every house should be made high enough to allow the 
attendant to stand erect, and long enough and wide 
enough to give room for the flock during inclement 
weather. For twenty laying hens it should be eight feet 
wide by ten feet long and not less than six feet high. This 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 



21 



will give room for nests, water, etc., and floor space 
enough for them to exercise. Such a house can be made 
with portable fixtures and can be used as a brooder coop 



m 







■..■■■■ . , ■■■-■:■ ■:-■. ■■■■ ■ 

• ■ 

w 




FIG. 6. — Water fountain for large flock. See description, 
page 19. 



for one brooder and 100 chicks. It should have a gravel 
floor, open front, inch mesh screen door and be built 
tight, warm and neat. 

With a long, narrow double run such a house will 
easily accommodate twenty to twenty-five laying hens and 
two males. By having two runs the males may be allowed 
to run with the flock on alternate days and much better re- 
sults will be obtained. Fig. 7 shows such a house with 
feed room attached. 



22 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



Yards and Kuns. — It is very desirable to have the 
yards located so the drainage will be away from the 
houses if possible, thus if the drainage or slope of the 




i&*wiS^:!SSiiaiB>™ 




FIG. 7. — Colony house, with yards in rear. This house is 
twenty-four feet long by ten feet wide. Roosting room, eight 
feet by ten feet. Open shed, twelve feet long by ten feet wide, 
enclosed with two-inch mesh screen and door. Feed room, four 
feet by ten feet. Same general construction as Fig. 1, for 
roosting room, with shed open to South, and boarded with 
common stock hoards on North side. Feed room is floored 
with boards, and barrels or boxes used for different kinds of 
grain and feeds. This room is not built in unless colony houses 
are remote from general feed supply. This house will accom- 
modate forty hens for breeding purposes, or more for common 
laying stock. 

Material for such a house, concrete foundation: One bar- 
rel Portland cement; seven barrels coarse sand and gravel; 
twelve pieces 2 in. by 4 in. by 6 ft. long, rear wall; five pieces 
4 in. by 4 in. by 7% ft. long, front wail; sixteen pieces 2 in. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 23 

by 4 in. by 7 ft. long, ends and partitions; seventeen pieces 
2 in. by 4 in. by 12 ft. long, rafters and plates; 450 feet house 
siding; 312 feet sheathing; 315 feet roofing; 40 feet flooring; 
one piece wire mesh 2 1 /o feet wide 8 feet long; three yards 
drilling; four yards %-inch Manila rope; one piece wire mesh 
six feet wide, nine feet long. Hinges and rim locks for three 
doors. 



ground is to the north, east or west the house should be 
in the south end of the yard. 

Make all yards and runs long enough and wide enough 
to allow the use of a horse and plow. Twelve to twenty 
feet wide by sixty to one hundred feet long /will give 
room enough for a flock of twenty-five. By having two 
such yards for each house and flock the land can be 
plowed and oats, wheat, rye, clover, turnip, rape, mustard 
and other seeds be sown which will keep the land clean 
and furnish all the green succulent feed for the flock. Sow 
the grain very thick and not too deep and, when it shows 
well above ground turn the fowls in and they will have 
green feed and sprouted grain. 

The size and shape of these colony houses and yards 
may be adapted to the area to be used, but the same gen- 
eral principles should be observed throughout. Houses 
and yards must be dry, roomy, well ventilated with 
plenty of sunshine reaching into every nook and corner. 
There is no germicide knoiwn to science that is more ef- 
fectual in its operation than the direct rays of the sun. 

Glass should be used very sparingly in all poultry 
houses. Open windows with sash or frames covered with 
muslin are much more sanitary and practical than glass. 
Where fflass is used a close-flttino; frame covered with 
muslin should be used on the inside of every window dur- 
ing cold nights as the glass will radiate the heat from 
the sun during the day and the air will become warm 



24 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

and moist, then at night the cold glass will reduce the 
temperature very rapidly and this moist air will chill 
the fowls very quickly and colds, catarrh and roup will 
follow. For this reason the use of glass is not advisable 
in poultry house construction. If one wants to test this 
principle of heat and cold radiation from glass surfaces 
let him sit in a closed room with the back close to the 
window with a clear sunshine striking the glass. The 
heat will soon be oppressive. Next sit with the back 
close to the window on a cold, cloudy day or a cold night 
and a cold current of damp air will soon be felt and in a 
very short time the body will be uncomfortable and a 
cold will be the result. The old, dark houses or coops 
were no more objectionable in many respects and not so 
dangerous to the health of the flock as many of the modern 
glass front structures. Fowls are very susceptible to cold 
currents of air but will endure a low temperature if the 
air is dry and free from draught. 

Fences. — The best 'and most economical material is 
a close wire mesh fence. One-inch mesh should be used 
at the bottom. Posts should be set fifteen to twenty feet 
apart and not less than four feet high with a cross arm 
bolted or nailed crosswise of the line of fence at the top. 
This cross arm should be three feet long and extend half 
the length on either side. Staple a two-foot wide inch 
iiesh fence at the bottom, then a two-foot wide two inch 
mesh of some kind of woven fence that has straight, 
horizontal wires with a heavy top and bottom wire. This 
can be stretched taut without top and bottom boards and 
the two widths fastened together at two or three places 
between posts with wire loops, or a better way is to pro- 
cure pig rings and a pair of ringers and ring the two to- 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 25 

gether. In this way it can be clone rapidly and neatly, 
leaving no wire ends to mar the apearance, or injure the 
fowls or attendant. 

For a partition fence procure two-inch mesh or three- 
inch will do, three feet wide and stretch this horizon- 
tally from cross arm to cross arm and staple fast. This 
will project over and make an effectual cap to the fence 
that will keep the flyers enclosed and separate much better 
than a fence six feet high. 

For the heavy non-flying breeds, this cap need not be 
put on, as they will not fly over the straight forty-eight- 
inch fence. The inch mesh at the bottom will keep small 
chicks from getting out and rats and other small rodents 
from getting in, and the wire cap over the posts is a 
very effectual protection against hawks and jackdaws. 
Where land can be had, these yards can be made wide 
enough to plant a row of small fruit trees in the middle 
of each yard. These will give shade for the fowls and 
.idd very much to the appearance as well as yield a good 
profit. Plant plums, apricots, damsons, peaches and 
dwarf apples and pears. The fowls will keep the trees 
and fruit free from insects and the soil can be worked 
and seeded, as noted in a former paragraph, and thus 
utilize the land and keep it clean. 

By having the yards double for each house, the fowls 
can be changed from one to the other when seeding down, 
and also at fruiting and picking time. 

All things considered, the cost of houses, yards, 
equipment, labor and feed, it will be easily understood 
why I favor the large house and free range plan. This 
brings the feeding, water and cleaning all into one house, 
and the expense of fencing is reduced to a minimum. 



26 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

By this system only one breed can be kept, which I con- 
sider a very great advantage, especially where egg pro- 
duction is the aim. The one great cause of so many 
mixed fowls and chicks from pure-bred parent stock is 
this custom of keeping different yards of the various 
breeds. These various breeds are allowel to run together 
during the fall and, winter months and are yarded a 
few weeks prior to the hatching season. This is a fatal 
mistake and will be fully treated in the chapter on 
breeding. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 27 



CHAPTER III. 

BREEDS AND BREEDING. 

Every one of the pure-bred strains of fowls lias its 
friends and admirers. Every one has its superior quali- 
ties and faults. None are perfect. "No one has all the 
good points^, and it is not the purpose of this book to 
discuss any particular breed, but only the three types of 
fowls in general use in the United States. I will classify 
the breeds very differently from the general custom. 
The utility points only will be considered. We will con- 
sider the general farm stock under three classifications, 
viz. : 

The small breeds, the medium breeds, the large breeds. 

In the first classification we find all of the Leghorns 
of every comb and color, the Minorcas of every comb and 
color, the Spanish of all kinds, the Houdans, and the 
Games. In the second classification are the so-called 
American breeds. These include the Plymouth Rocks of 
every shade and color^ the Wyandottes of every shade 
and color, the Rhode Island Reds, and that great name- 
less breed, the Mongrel hen, or cross of every known 
breed, and the number of this class is legion. 

In the third class we have the Brahmas, all colors; 
the Cochins, all colors ; the Langshans, all colors, and the 
Orpingtons, black, white and buff. The first class is 
generally referred to as the laying breeds. 

I wish in this connection to correct this seemingly 
incorrect appellation. All the breeds are laying breeds, 
and experience has shown conclusively that fully as much 



28 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

depends upon the particular strain as upon the breed. 
Food stuff and care also enter very largely into this fac- 
tor and characteristic. 

This class has been bred for many years for egg pro- 
duction and non-sitting traits, yet I have had strains of 

o "J 

Leghorns that were very moderate producers of eggs and 
persistent sitters. The same is true of certain strains of 
all the breeds named in this class, hence I think it best 
to refer to this class as the small breed, and to various 
strains in this class as laying strains of the particular 
breed named. 

For profitable egg production, there is no question 
that certain strains of the several breeds in this class lead 
all others. The leading egg farms of this country are 
nearly all breeding egg producing strains of some of the 
breeds named in this class, and where commercial egg 
farming is the prime object, some of these breeds are 
used as the main dependence. 

I deem it unwise and unfair to boom any particular 
breed and aim to give facts only. In classing these 
breeds as "small" I would not be understood as meaning 
diminutive in size only; relatively, I have seen and 
owned some excellent layers of the Leghorn family that 
weighed, when in good laying condition, nearly six 
pounds, and five pounds in weight is very common, the 
average, however, of the breeds in this class will proba- 
bly be about four pounds for mature birds in good laying 
condition. All of the breeds in this class are very active, 
good foragers, reliable breeders and grow rapidly, mature 
early, feather fully when quite young, and are very hardy. 
They will grow to broiler size (twenty-four ounces) as 
quickly as any of the large breeds and will be plump and 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 29 

fully feathered at eight to ten weeks old. The quality 
of the flesh in the young birds cannot be excelled, and, in 
mature fowls, is excellent, when in good condition. This 
is especially true of the Games and Houdans. 

Many people make the mistake of judging the table 
qualities of the mature stock in this class when the carcass 
is lean from long continued laying. 

All the breeds in this class should be fed liberally on 
fattening feed at the close of the natural laying season 
for some weeks before marketing. This will not only 
increase the weight, but improve the quality. 

Neither one of the breeds in this class can be said 
to be reliable sitters or good mothers. A few individual 
hens may be steady enough, but the great majority are 
too nervous. 

The eggs laid by all three breeds in this class are large 
and white-shelled, and bring top prices everywhere and 
a premium in some markets. The hens in this class 
yield profitable returns until four to five years old. This 
class may be said to fi]l the same place in the poultry 
industry as the Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney cows hold 
in the bovine family. None of them can be said to be 
profitable as a market fowl. 

In the second classification we have two very popular 
breeds and a third forging to the front rapidly. The 
Plymouth Rock is perhaps the most numerous of any 
of the pure breeds in America to-day. The various 
colors have been bred long enough to fix the standard 
and give a fairly certain result in mating. 

The Barred Rock is a fine specimen of the parti-colored 
fowl, and the white and buff breed reasonably true to 
type and feather. The inclination to run to brassiness 



30 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

in the white, and yellow and red in the buff is not so 
marked as a few years ago. 

Careful mating must be the watchword if color and 
type are desired in the medium breeds, because they are 
all comparatively new and the tendency to reversion is 
much greater than in class one. 

The Wyandotte has many good points as a general 
utility fowl and much to commend it to the general 
farmer as well as the specialist. This breed matures 
more uniformly than any of the breeds in this class, is 
close feathered and feathers young, and makes a splendid 
foundation stock for broilers. The Wyandotte has a 
broad, deep breast development and makes a fine, attract- 
ive carcass when dressed. As foragers, the Wyandottes 
and Rocks are equal to the native stock of the country 
and may be said to be good general-purpose fowls, fairly 
good layers, good size, hardy, vigorous and quiet in dis- 
position. Some strains are good layers and nearly all are 
good sitters and mothers. The Rhode Island Reds are 
a new creation and growing in popularity. They are of 
good size, a pleasing color, good layers, especially in win- 
ter, reasonably good foragers and quite hardy. 

The three breeds in this class are good table fowls, 
fairly good layers, quiet in disposition, easily confined and 
reliable in every way as a farmer's fowl, and some of the 
new varieties of the Wyandottes are a fanciers fowl. The 
Reds are new and not fixed in type or color, but are 
rapidly coming to the front as a utility breed. 

These three breeds lay brown-shelled eggs. 

The comon barn yard hen of America is after all the 
most numerous of any of the distinct types, and this pro- 
claims her to be the most popular. 



OK FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 31 

She may be found in all the valleys, on the slopes, 
the hills, the mountains, the fertile plains, the dismal 
swamps, the sandy deserts, in the hut of the foreign 
immigrant, the home of the poor man, the cabin of the 
negro, on farm and town lots, in the yard of the rich — 
everywhere may be seen the variegated colors, ringed, 
streaked and spreckeled; long legs, short legs, yellow, 
green, blue and black, eyeTj color of leg and feather, with 
a dash of the blood of every known breed and type in 
her veins, she stands to-day as the real American type par- 
excellence. One cannot get away from the notes of her 
song or the staccato of her cackle. Some one says, 
"scrub." Yes, the scrub hen lays the most of the eggs 
of commerce'. Why ? Because she is ten times as num- 
erous in the United States as any of the pure breeds. 
Why? Because she came here with the first settlers; 
because she was a pioneer in every State and Territory. 
She has no fixed type or color, no standard qualifications, 
no one to sing her praises in the show-room or advertise 
her wonderful achievments in the newspapers or peri- 
odicals. Yet she lives and sings and cackles, and, if she 
had good care, selection and feed, she would rival her 
cousins and aunts among the aristocratic Rocks, the won- 
derful Wyandottes and the royal Reds. Her eggs are 
every shade, from white to dark brown, and her skin from 
blue to yellow, and, like Hamlet's ghost, "she will not 
down." Why is this ? Because she is a thoroughbred 
scrub. She is hardy and practically self-supporting and 
the great mass of mankind thinks a hen by any other 
name would be a hen just the same. 

Some of the strains of pure breeds have been inbred 
to fix the type or characteristics and the vigor of them 



32 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

impaired. People have bought eggs and stock from such 
foundation stock and were disappointed and have gone 
back to "old spreckle" because she would live and lay five 
or six dozen eggs per year without any special care or 
feed. 

The average farmer is satisfied with this result pro- 
viding she will roost in the trees, in the barn, in the tool 
house, anywhere, and forage for her living and steal her 
nest away and raise a few chicks to frying size. 

I have nothing to say against any class or breed, but 
I know from experience that any of the pure-bred fowls 
with ordinary care in breeding, fair treatment and good 
feed will yield a much greater profit and be a source 
of pleasure to the owner. IsTo more pleasing sight greets 
the eye than to behold a flock of pure-bred fowls of 
uniform shape and color. 

There are special breeds for special purposes and this 
is an age of specialties and specialists, and we must cut 
loose from the scrub in every form and improve our every 
effort if we may hope to succeed. 

The breeds composing the third class are large in 
body and fluffy or loose feathered, with small combs 
and wattles. They mature slowly and do not attain full 
Weight until fully one year old. 

The breeds composing this class are known as Asiatics, 
with the exception of the Orpingtons, and they undoubt- 
edly get their size and fluffy feathers from the Cochins. 

All the breeds in this class are moderate layers of large 
brown-shelled eggs. They are persistent sitters, very 
slow and quiet in their disposition, indifferent foragers, 
easily confined. We have frequently kept Brahmas, 
Cochins and Orpingtons in separate enclosures with a 



OE FORTY YEAES WITH POULTEY. 33 

thirty-inch fence. Their large, bony structure and quiet 
habits make them very desirable for soft roasters and 
capons. The hens of some strains of this class can be 
made to weigh as much as twelve pounds, and capons fre- 
quently exceed this weight by five pounds. 

This class requires different care and feed from the 
small and medium classes. Every means must be employed 
to make them exercise during the breeding season to keep 
them from getting overfat. 

Heat and fat-producing feeds must be avoided as much 
as possible. This will be treated fully in the chapter on 
feeds and feedings. A few strains have been developed 
that are fairly good winter layers, but, as a laying breed, 
they are never satisfactory. They are a profitable fowl 
to breed for a class of trade that demands a large, soft, 
well-matured, fat carcass. The writer has sold Brah- 
ma capons weighing sixteen pounds at twenty-four cents 
per pound. It costs but little, if any more to produce 
a pound of this flesh than it does to produce a pound of 
pork or beef, yet it always sells for two or three times 
the price of these staple products. 

The Orpingtons are a cross-bred type, and the eggs 
show the characteristic colors of the parent stock, vary- 
ing in color from very light brown to dark brown and 
almost lavender and are not uniform in size. The quality 
of the flesh of the Orpington is thought by some to be bet- 
ter than others of this class, but this is no doubt largely 
imaginary, or is the result of careful feeding. 

Beeediitc. — For practical results, the "hen that lays 
is the hen that pays." The great mass of farmers do not 
care for the fancy points so dear to the eye of the fancy 



o 



4 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



breeder. Very many people do not know one breed from 
the other, only as white and black and yellow chickens. 

It is true that more people in America know the barred 
Plymouth Rock than any other breed, and it is also true 
that the barred Rock has been more largely used to cross 
on the native hens than any other breed, and the native 
stock has been materially improved by this cross. 

The author of this book does not advocate cross-breed- 
ing any fowls or stock, as a rule, but there may be crosses 
made that from a purely economic standpoint are advis- 
able. The mule is an instance of such a cross, but we 
cannot concieve of any necessity for such cross-breeding 
in poultry. We have to-day pure-bred fowls of every 
type and color and for every place and purpose that fowls 
are used for, and there can be no reason for cross-breeding 
except the producton of new types or breeds, and this 
is the work of a class of specialists and will not be con- 
sidered in these pages. 

For the general farmer we have pure breeds and spe- 
cial strains that may be had that are superior to any 
cross that can be made. 

Great egg production and large carcass cannot be com- 
bined in one breed or be made possible by crossing. One or 
the other must predominate, hence it follows that those 
who find egg farming more desirable than the production 
of market fowls will naturally in time be 1 driven to one 
oj the other of the small breeds, and vice versa. 

Location, environment and taste are the determining 
factors in the selection of 'the-kind of fowls that the indi- 
vidual should select. Having determined this, then 
a breed and strain should be selected that will fill 
these conditions and should be bred pure, and im- 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 35 

proved in the direction of the end to be attained. If 
egg production is the prime object, then make every effort 
to breed for early maturity, large egg yield, non-sitting 
characteristics. The size and color of the eggs must not 
be neglected or overlooked. We want quality in eggs as 
well as quantity. Uniformity in size and color count very 
much in the sale of fancy eggs. This result can be 
attained by careful selection of the breeding stock. If 
one will select the pullets from a flock that begin to lay 
first, and those of them that lay large, uniform eggs, and 
breed these to a male from a similar strain, great improve- 
ment will follow, and the strain will increase in value 
with each generation. 

The same is true in the production of broilers and 
market fowls. Early maturity, rapid growth, plump 
bodies, with good breast development, clean legs, small 
heads and, above all, the color demanded by your market 
in the dressed carcass. 

Quality counts for more in this branch of the busi- 
ness than in egg production. The trade requires the best, 
if top prices are to be realized, and the man who breeds 
for the form, color and size demanded by the trade and 
then feeds well Avill be rewarded twofold — quick sales and 
top prices. Long legs, white or blue skins, lean, lank bodies 
long necks, large heads show low quality and are the last 
sold at the lowest price. For market purposes, breed close, 
compact bodies, yellow legs and skins, short legs, short 
necks, small heads, and then have them fat and in first 
class condition on the market. ' Such stock will gain a 
reputation for the breeder that will be worth many times 
its cost. 

This book is written by a business poultry man, not 



36 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

a fancier, and for business poultrymen. The fancier has 
his books and is in a class by himself and has done incal- 
culable good to the industry and cannot be dispensed with 
under any consideration, but that great army of business 
poultrymen and women for whom this book is written 
want to know how to make poultry pay, and it is the pur- 
pose of this book to tell them in plain and truthful terms. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 37 



CHAPTEE IV. 

HOW TO BEGIN. 

This question has been asked many times. ^sTow that 
we have the location, the houses, yards, etc., and have se- 
lected our breed let us consider this question: How must 
I begin ? Shall I buy eggs or breeding stock ? Shall I 
hatch my chicks under hens or in incubators ? Shall I 
buy common stock or fine stock \ Shall I begin on a large 
or small scale ? All these questions and many others will 
arise in the mind of the prudent man. 

The poultry business is pre-eminently a business that 
requires practical knowledge and this practical knowledge 
is the greatest asset that one can have. This cannot be 
bought or acquired in any other way than by experience. 
It will be plain then that to experiment in a large way 
would be very hazardous, therefore begin in a moderate 
way. Many people have an idea that anyone can suc- 
ceed with poultry. Many have made a success with a few 
hens and reason that the only difference in the care and 
management of a few hens and thousands is the extra 
room and feed required for the larger number. They 
find when too late that this is the pitfall that has en- 
tombed many good men. 

Fifty to one hundred hens can be kept on almost any 
farm without danger to the health of the flock, but when 
we increase to five hundred or one thousand we increase 
ihe ratio of risk ten fold as well, and much more care 
will be necessary than with the smaller flock. The nat- 
ural parasites will increase, the soil will become polluted, 



38 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

the natural supply of grit, insects and grass will become 
depleted and disease will appear. The man or womaA 
who wants to engage in the poultry business to make a 
living therefrom must begin in a small way and learn 
the business step by step. Books and poultry papers will 
be a great help but the business must be learned. 

Where one can spare the means the best way is to buy 
breeding stock. Select the breed desired then buy from 
some reliable source as many yearling hens as needed, 
say ten or twenty, and one or two good cockbirds or 
cockerels. 

The fall of the year is the best time to buy this stock. 
Get it into winter quarters early and learn to feed for 
good, fertile eggs. This will enable you to know exactly 
what kind of eggs and stock you will have. It will also 
guarantee you fresh eggs for hatching early in the season 
and at lowest cost. Twenty hens will supply enough eggs 
to keep a 250-egg size incubator at work all the time. In 
the South we can begin to hatch Jan. 1st." Suppose we 
make eight hatches. We will then have used 2,000 eggs 
and should have 1,200 to 1,500 chicks. By the time the 
last chicks are out of the shells the pullets from the first 
hatch will be nearly mature and will demand extra care, 
feed and room. Enough should be realized from the sale 
of cockerels as broilers to pay for all the feed for the en- 
tire flock to maturity. 

The hens may be sold, but if the stock from this mat- 
ing be satisfactory, it would be wise to keep them another 
year. Select the best pullets and give good care and 
feed. Within one year one may easily raise a flock of 
500 first-class pullets. 

Then it becomes a business proposition and must be 
pursued as such. If we expect to make eggs a specialty, 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 39 

then we must push every pullet with all possible speed 
to maturity that we may get eggs when the best prices 
prevail. When one has mastered all the problems of this 
first year he is in a position to double the nock the next 
year. 

By this method one has time to note many things that 
will be helpful and also to make such houses, yards, etc., 
as will be found necessary, whilst on the other hand ex- 
pense and risk have been reduced to the minimum. It 
will be evident to all that at this point the two branches 
of the poultry business diverge and each becomes a dis- 
tinct line in a sense. One cannot raise hens for egg pro- 
duction without raising about an equal number of cockerels 
to be sold as fryers or broilers, but if one intends to de- 
vote his time and energy to table poultry it will not be 
necessary to keep so many layers. Two hundred good 
hens will supply eggs enough to operate a 5,000 broiler 
and soft roaster farm and this is about the limit of one 
man and his family. We cannot depend on nature to 
hatch our chicks if we expect to make a living out of the 
business, but if we only want to keep up a farm flock of 
about 100 layers this may be done very satisfactorily by 
natural incubation. This will be discussed fully in the 
chapter on incubation. 

Where one wishes to begin at the very fountain head 
with very little capital it may be done in another way. 
Buy a small, good incubator and 100 eggs of the breed 
selected. Buy good eggs. Hatch them and raise the 
chicks for the breeding stock then proceed as intimated 
in the foregoing. It is very poor economy to buy cheap 
stock, cheap eggs or cheap incubators. It will pay far 
better to have good stock, good eggs, good incubators and 
cheap houses. 



40 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



CHAPTER V. 

FEEDS AND FEEDING. 

This is a pro'blem that will never be solved. No two 
men see exactly alike. No two eat alike. One wants 
more salt, less sugar; one wants everything sweet or sour. 
We do not want the same food all the time. Watch a 
hen on a free range and see how she will roam from place 
to place and take a taste here, a mite there, a pebble at 
one step and an insect or a worm at the next. If she can 
get plenty of young grass and clover, insects and worms 
she will eat very little grain. 

Watch that old hen with her brood for an hour some 
sunny day. Give her the range of the barn-yard and 
watch her carefully and you will learn how to feed baby 
chicks. Busy from daylight till dusk. A bit of grass, 
then a minute seed, next an angleworm, then a beetle, here 
children, is a small, sharp bit of stone, there is a 
sprouted weed-seed, oh ! here is a great find, a whole head 
of millet seed, look, there goes an ant, run, get that May 
beetle, here is a good morsel, just arrived, that grasshop- 
per will be enough for your dinner, get that fat cricket, 
quick, before he gets away. So it goes all day long. Run 
here and there. See them scratch and dig at that big 
turf. What do they find? Small insects, bits of stone, 
root stems, grass, weed seeds, a grain of wheat. 

"When they have a good range call them and give them 
a handfull of sloppy cornmeal and note how much they 
will eat. Very little. 

When we confine them in yards and pens we stuff 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 41 

them five or six times a day with some soft mash and they 
live a week or two and then mope around a few days and 
are "gathered unto their fathers. 77 This feed is the same 
every day, every feed. 

Let us see if we cannot come nearer to nature and save 
these little beauties. First, see how the old mother hen 
hovers them. They creep into her feathers and get their 
backs against her warm body. They may be standing on 
the cold, damp ground, possibly on snow or ice. That 
don't matter so their backs are warm and against some 
warm substance. There are not more than twenty of them 
m that flock. If you give her more they will almost 
surely dwindle away to this number. They have all out- 
doors for fresh air. What do we do ? Put 200 in a box 
near a lamp. They stand on a warm floor, in a warm 
atmosphere, with nothing but imagination to put their 
backs against. We have just given them all the rich 
concentrated food they could cram into their crops in a 
few moments. They have no grit, no meat, no grass, no 
earth for them to scratch in ? no exercise, but they have 
plenty of feed. They become so hungry for animal food 
that if one is injured in any way and the tiniest speck 
of blood appears the others will devour it. We drive them 
to cannibalism. They want something warm on their 
backs and they creep under each other, pile up and 
smother. We say they are cold and turn on more heat. 
They get too warm and steam and sweat then come out, 
get chilled and bowel trouble begins and they are gone 
and we have "bad luck 7 ' with chickens. We blame the 
biooder and the brooder manufacturer blames your breed- 
ing stock or the weather or, if it is campaign year, he 
may say it is caused by the political agitation. Suppose 




42 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

we make a brooder in small sections with a warm, wooly 
cloth on, have this cloth down low so they must creep 
under it, have them stand on the ground or some dry 
sand and gravel, put about twenty or twenty-five in each 
section, have an enclosed run for them, put cut straw, 
hay, chaff, lawn clippings, a few shovels full of fresh 
earth into this, then strew some millet, hemp, clover, tim- 
othy, rape and mustard seeds into this litter. When they 
begin to eat these add cracked wheat and corn, some pin- 
head oats or oatmeal flakes, burn some corn black and 
have it broken in bits small enough so they will eat it, 
throw a few hands full of chick grit into the litter and 
watch them work. Hear the contented peep, peep, peep. 
See the dust fly. Exercise and feed. No weak legs, no 
bowel trouble. Get some good, sweet beef scrap and put 
it in an earthen dish and pour boiling water over it and 
leave it to stand over night. In the morning rub enough 
shipstuff into it to make it dry and crumbly. Throw this 
into the litter and see them have a picnic. Will they 
find it. The smallest speck. What more ? Clean fresh 
water and a little run on grass or some clover or alfalfa 
meal steamed over night. Continue this treatment and 
in two weeks whole wheat, coarse cracked corn may be 
given at night and by the eighth or tenth week they will 
try to crow and will be ready to be exchanged for good 
hard cash. 

Any system of feeding that will keep chicks healthy 
and make them grow will be ideal for the laying stock. 
An egg is a chick in embryo. The hen must be healthy. 
To be healthy she must have good feed, plenty of exer- 
cise, sunshine and fresh air. Never feed her musty, 
mouldy, or rotten grain. Give her as great variety as 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 43 

you can. " Variety is the spice of life." Buy all grains 
and seeds from first hands if possible, or, better still, 
grow them. The prepared chick and poultry feeds are 
a delusion and a snare. You do not know what they are. 
A few acres of land will produce all the special crops nec- 
essary and wheat, corn and oats can always be bought 
from first hands at market price. 

For laying stock a good variety can be made by usin^ 
wheat, oats, buckwheat, sorghum, kaffir corn, millet seed, 
cowpeas, soja beans, sunflowers, cabbage, rutabagas, clover 
and alfalfa. This will give a good variety and with 
wheat bran, shipstuff, corn and meat meal may be varied 
so as to produce combinations of feeds to promote growth 
in young stock, egg production and fat as desired. 

When we know and remember that wheat, oats, buck- 
wheat, millet, cowpeas wheat bran and meat meal are 
flesh forming feeds and consequently egg producing food, 
and that corn, kaifir corn and sunflower seeds are fat 
formers and the clovers, grasses and vegetables are large- 
ly health promoters, we can combine these feeds to make 
such combinations as will give us the results desired and 
give variety as well. We must always remember that a 
certain part and proportion of the food consumed is used 
by the fowls to maintain their normal condition, and all 
in excess of that amount eaten and assimilated will make 
either eggs or fat. We can feed the different classes 
with the necessary elemental products to effect our purpose 
Hence, in feeding the small breeds we can feed more corn 
and starchy food than when feeding the large breeds be- 
cause we must supply a, given amount of heat producers 
and the small breeds require relatively more of these ele- 
ments than the large breeds, owing to their more active 



44 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

natures and the natural tendency of the large breeds to 
convert the starchy elements into fat, heat. 

We grow the pig with milk, shipstufL, clover, peas and 
other like feeds rich in proteinoids, flesh formers, and 
fatten him with corn. We can apply this same rule to 
the hen when we remember that an egg contains all the 
elements necessary to life and growth in approximately 
the right proportions. It necessarily follows that if we 
feed corn largely or wholly we fatten the hen but she can- 
not lay eggs because she lacks the constituent elements 
necessary to the formation of every part of the egg. We 
hear it said many times that hens are too fat to lay. This 
is not the true reason. She is getting a one-sided ration 
and consequently is putting the fat in her body. Exper- 
ience has shown that if we feed a less fattening food to 
these hens they will begin to lay and will give us excell- 
ent returns. It is wise to feed the growing stock in such 
a way and with a ration high enough in fat-forming ma- 
terial to keep them in good condition all the time and at 
the approach of maturity to increase the flesh producing 
content of the ration and in this way stimulate egg pro- 
duction. For this reason we feed green cut bone and 
meat meal, which is rich in this element, more liberally 
during the laying season than at other times. 

Regularity in feeding is also very important. Hens 
on free range should have a mash feed early in the 
morning, rich in protein, but should not be fed enough 
to gorge the crop. Feed shipstufT, corn meal, crushed 
oats and meat meal at this feed. A noonday feed of 
wheat, oats, buckwheat and vegetables may be thrown 
into the litter and the grains, corn, wheat and oats should 
be fed at the evening feed, and this feed should always 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 45 

be a full feed. Be sure the fowls go to roost with full 
crops. 

Good clean, sharp grit, always before the fowls is an 
absolute necessity. Very many people do not realize the 
importance of this and their fowls fail to give profitable 
returns when the feed is all that could be desired. Hens 
will not eat a full ration if grit is withheld and if they 
do consume the food it will not be digested and indiges- 
tion will follow and the fowls will be seen standing about 
in a listless, indolent, sleepy stupor. More grit and less 
feed is the remedy. Many of the mixed poultry feeds 
on the market give good results simply because they con- 
tain ten to twenty per cent, of crushed stone. It is cer- 
tainly very foolish, or bad judgment at best, to pay over 
two cents per pound for grit when it can be bought for 
one-fourth of this sum. Lime must also be given in some 
form to make bone and shell. Crushed oyster shells are 
a very convenient way to supply lime but broken lime- 
stone will answer the purpose fully as well and be cheaper 
in some sections. ISTear the coast where shells may be had 
for the hauling they may be easily converted into avail- 
able condition by heating them red hot, then when cool 
they will break easily. Grit and lime are necessary for 
the little chicks as well as the laying stock. It strength- 
ens the bones and aids digestion and thus promotes 
health and growth. 

Good sound grain, grass, vegetables, clover, meat in 
some form, grit and lime are the essential elements in 
feeding, and variety and regularity the potent factors in 
maintaining health. One of the best substitutes for green 
feed is sprouted grain. This may be sprouted oats, 
wheat, rye, corn, or even the peas and clovers. To make 



46 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

this, two sets of boxes and trays or shallow boxes are 
required and a room of even temperature with good light 
will be very helpful. Take an amount of grain sufficient 
to make a good allowance for the flock for several days 
and put it in a tight box or barrel and cover the grain 
with warm water. Leave it in this box or barrel until 
it begins to show signs of sprouts, then remove it to the 
shallow box or tray with a little drainage in the bottom. 
Place this tray in a sunny, warm place if you can and 
spread the grain over the bottom about two inches thick. 
Sprinkle daily until it becomes a mass of green. When 
the sprouts are about two inches high cut the mass in 
squares and feed to the hens. They will eat the sprouts, 
grain and roots and will repay the extra cost many fold 
in the increased yield of eggs. This can be made of 
mixed grain and makes an excellent feed for young 
chicks that are raised in small enclosures as well as for 
laying hens in winter when succulent grass and clover is 
not much in evidence. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 47 

CHAPTER VI. 

NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 

As noted elsewhere, the method of hatching is determ- 
ined by the number of chicks to be reared and the purpose 
for which they are intended. Where one simply wants to 
renew an ordinary farm flock of medium size, the natural 
method of hatching is very satisfactory. Where one can 
get all the chicks wanted by hatching 300 eggs or less, 
nature's way will undoubtedly be most satisfactory. 
Where one of the small, non-sitting breeds is kept exclu- 
sively, it would undoubtedly be best to buy a sufficient 
number of native hens or yearling hens of some of the 
large breeds to hatch the chicks and raise the broods. 
These hens could be fed in such a way whilst rearing the 
broods to have them ready for market by the time the 
chicks would be large enough to do without motherly care. 
A good way to manage these hens is to put them into a 
colony house and run as early as possible. Feed for eggs 
and get them to laying early. Allow no males with them 
at any time. Make nests uniform in size and shape for 
the hens, one for each. Encourage them to lay in separate 
nests as much as possible, and when they begin to show 
signs of broodiness, close the entrance to the occupied 
nests with a wire screen. Keep the hen on the nest with- 
out eggs until several are broody, then give them the eggs 
all at one time. Before giving them the eggs, clean the 
nests thoroughly and dust them with some good insect 
powder. Put some moist earth in the bottom of each nest 
and on this put a small amount of nesting material. Put 
a moth-ball in ground of nest and no mites will, enter it. 
If one can set five or six hens in this way the eggs can 



48 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

be tested the fifth day and the infertile ones removed 
and the fertile ones put under four or five hens ; and the 
remaining ones can be set on a new clutch. This means a 
gain of ten to fifteen chicks for every five or six hens. 
Have these nests arranged so the hen can be enclosed with- 
out trouble. They must be fed and watered daily and 
at a regular time during the day. A very convenient 
form of nest is shown in Figs. 8 and 9. This nest is made 
large enough to allow the hen some exercise and really 
the hen may be shut in the entire period of the hatch, 
and then it can be used as a brood-coop. If these nests 
and brood-coops are painted with a coat of cement paint 
at the close of the breeding season and kept stored in a 
dry place they will last many years. The coop and nest 
should be made two feet square and eighteen inches high, 
with a floor one foot wide across the rear side. ISTail 
a narrow board on this floor edgewise and another cross- 
wise, making a shallow box twelve inches square for the 
nest. Cover the front with one-inch wire^mesh and cut 
a small door three and a half by three and a half inches 
in one end for the chicks to run out and in. Hinge this 
door so it may be closed securely. Put a good gable roof 
on with dowel pins, as shown in the figure, and you have 
a very practical nest and brood-coop combined at very 
small cost. With small, movable wire yards covered with 
two-inch mesh netting, the hen and chicks can be moved 
daily and be secured against all kinds of chick enemies 
and have a dry, comfortable shelter. The hens should 
be thoroughly dusted several times during the three 
weeks to make sure they are free from lice. Take some 
insect powder and vaseline and rub it together and then 
rub some of this ointment into the short, fine feathers of 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 



49 



the heads and necks of the sitting hens to kill the head 



& 



lice. Do this just before the chicks begin to hatch and 




FIG. 8. — Nest and brood-coop. This nest and brood-coop 
is made two feet square, inside measure, and eighteen inches 
high to square. 

Use %-inch lumber, 9 inches wide; four pieces 2 feet long 
for ends; three pieces 25y 2 inches long for back and front; 
one piece 2 feet long by 13 inches wide for floor; two pieces 
13 inches long by 4 inches wide for nest box on floor board; 
one piece screen 9 inches wide 2 feet long. This completes 
the nest. 

For top, cut two boards 2 feet long by 9 inches wide, and 
cut to point at each end from center for gable ends. Use 
%-inch lumber for roof boards and cut them 28 inches long. 
Nail on to gable end boards, as shown in cut, and cover with 
some good roofing material. Put two dowel pins of No. 9 fence 
wire in gable end boards to fit in holes in lower section, as 
shown in Fig. 11. Cut door in end 3% by 3y 2 inches square 
and hinge, as shown in cut. Paint two coats inside and out. 



50 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



dgain four or five days afterward. Lice powder will not 
kill these head lice and we want to make sure that the 
hens are free from them before the chicks are hatched. 
These head lice kill more chicks than all other vermin 
and diseases combined. After the chicks are hatched rub 
some of this ointment into the short feathers on the 




FIG. 9. — Showing nest and brood-coop open. 



shanks of the hens as these same lice will sometimes be 
found there. This treatment will rid the hens of these 
pests effectually and will save many chicks and much 
trouble. 

Some advise giving two or more broods to one hen 
and setting the other hens a second time. This is not 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 51 

advisable. One hen cannot hover more than 15 chicks 
and a hen will seldom hatch a second clutch satisfactorily. 
Some advise hatching in the laying nests but it is much 
better to have individual nests for each hen and have them 
separated as much as possble. 

With these individual nests the hen may be moved 
to the yard the day before hatching and in this way iso- 
lated so that there will be no disturbance of any kind 
when the chicks begin to peep. Whilst in the "double 
nests when the first peep is heard every hen will be dis- 
turbed and nervous. They will many times leave their 
own nest and go from nest to nest to find that first born 
and many eggs will be broken and spoiled. Whatever 
kind of nests, houses, yards, etc., may be used the main 
object to be secured is to get the hens isolated as much 
as possible. Have them in cool darkened nests where they 
may be enclosed easily and arranged so the nest and hen 
may be moved. Get the hens and nests free from lice 
and mites before the chicks are hatched. 

Artificial Incubation. — This is a very old art and 
was practiced by the ancient Egyptians. It is compara- 
tively new in America. The incubator of to-day is a 
very different affair from the great ovens of the Egyp- 
tians. We cannot consider their methods for present day 
needs. We want incubators now that will hatch eggs by 
the use of oil, gasoline, gas or electricity. The incu- 
bator of the near future will be equipped with electric 
radiators, regulators and automatic turning and cooling 
devices that will do the work automatically . We have 
many styles and kinds of incubators on the market to-day, 
each one with the stereotyped claim of being the "best." 
All of them will hatch chicks if directions are followed 



52 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

and conditions are right, but none of them are satisfac- 
tory under all conditions. Taking the average of the 
hatches of all the incubators in this country we will 
find that it takes fully 5 eggs to produce one chick to ma- 
turity. With special equipment of houses, cellars and 
skilled operators the per cent, of loss is not so great but 
the fact remains and is patent to every one familiar 
with the subject, that artificial incubation and incuba- 
tors are far from perfect. 

It is comparatively easy to construct an incubator to 
produce and regulate the heat within five or six degrees 
of the supposed correct temperature, but to surround the 
eggs with this temperature is not all that is necessary. 
Chicks die in the shell at all stages of the hatch and mil- 
lions of them die between the sixteenth and twenty-first 
days of the hatch. There is something lacking somewhere 
that the ingenuity of man has not been able to discover. 
It is at this stage of the hatch that the greatest mortal- 
ity manifests itself. Many plans and devices have been 
advertised as remedies but the mortality continues. 

That it is the fault of the incubator has been proven 
many times by taking a certain per cent, of the eggs out 
of the incubator on the sixteenth day and putting them 
under hens with the result that very few, if any, would 
die in the shell, while the eggs left in the incubator till 
the hatch was completed would show from 10 to 75 per 
cent, of loss. The author of this book has had many 
years of experience with every kind and character of 
incubators, under various conditions of seasons, climate 
and altitude and finds the facts to be as noted. The same 
machine may make one or two fairly satisfactory hatches 
and then without apparent cause the chicks will die in 



OK FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 53 

the shell for several hatches in succession and then will 
make good again. No one expects every egg to hatch into 
a good strong chick; the mother hen cannot do this, bnt 
where the chicks are almost fully developed or quite so, 
and fail to get out of the shell it is evident that the fault 
is in the machine. Some manufacturers doubtless make 
the best machine that can be made and poultrymen owe 
much to these men for bringing incubators to the pres- 
ent stage of development, but no manufacturer can truth- 
fully say that his machine will hatch every hatchable 
egg. They will not do it and everyone who has had ex- 
perience with incubators knows this to be true. 

There are really but two principles in use in heat- 
ing the eggs in the egg chamber : Hot water circulating 
through pipes or tanks and hot air, either from a heater 
dome or hot air tubes or both. 

As noted, the heating is comparatively easy but there 
remains unsolved a principle or law of nature other 
than heat. Until this problem is solved we must be con- 
tent to use the best we have and study how to attain 
best results. Generally speaking, one will succeed best 
by following directions furnished with each particular 
kind of machine, yet this is not always best as shown by 
the fact that the manufacturer changes these instructions 
from time to time as experiments show him the error in 
former instructions. Altitude, climate and season also 
have great influence on the final result. ~No one can 
give specific directions or instructions for operating in- 
cubators under any and all conditions and all that can 
be said in a ivork of this kind is to get the best eggs 
obtainable and this can usually be done by having the 
stock in your own care. Eggs intended for hatching 



54 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

should be kept iu a cool, dark place where the tempera- 
ture does not vary much and does not go above 70 degrees. 
The eggs should be moved or turned every day or two 
and should not be over two weeks old. They should be 
clean and great care exercised to keep all grease and oil 
from the shells. The eggs should never be turned or 
handled in any way while filling or trimming the lamp 
as kerosene oil will penetrate almost any substance and 
one cannot fill and trim lamps without getting more or 
less oil on the hands. This makes it necessary to be 
careful about handling eggs when trimming or filling the 
lamps. 

Uniformly better results have been obtained in our 
experience by bringing the temperature to the desired 
degree very slowly, and not exceeding 102 degrees of heat 
the first week of incubation and by turning or moving 
the eggs three or four times per day during the first week. 
By observing the hen during the entire period of incuba- 
tion it will be seen that she moves and rolls the eggs very 
many times the first six to eight days and very little after 
the fifteenth day. 

During the first period the germ rises to the top of 
the egg where the heat is greatest and after the fifteenth 
day the chick remains practically stationary. 

Much is said about moisture and ventilation in the 
catalogues and each one has the correct idea or theory 
on paper, but the fact still remains that many chicks will 
be found dead in the shells, not from lack of heat or ex- 
cess of heat, but from other and) unexplained causes. The 
theory of gases and air compounds is not tenable because 
in the open ground nest, in the loose straw or excelsior 
nest there can be nothing to confine these gases or air 



OR FORTY YEAES WITH POULTRY. 55 

compounds;, and yet the hen hatches under these condi- 
tions without much loss. Experience also proves that the 
moisture or water of the egg should not be evaporated 
to any very great extent. Where the egg is evaporated 
to an extent of one-fifth the contents the chick may live 
to get out of the shell, but it will be very small and weak 
as compared to chicks hatched under hens from the same 
eggs. May it not be possible that there is an invisible, 
unknown influence conveyed to the living germ and em- 
bryo by the living warmth and contact of the mother's 
body that no machine can have? Warm air to keep the 
body warm and comfortable, must be many degrees 
warmer than good soft woolen clothes, yet the clothes will 
give the greater comfort and be far more conducive to 
perfect health. 

Incubators should be operated in a room of reasonably 
uniform temperature and free from moving currents of 
air, but should be well ventilated and darkened. The 
room should not be a living room but may be, in fact 
should be, very convenient to a living room that the ma- 
chine may be seen frequently and any material change in 
temperature corrected by the attendant. Regulators can- 
not be depended upon to take entire care of the tempera- 
ture. 

Experience has shown that where any moisture is 
needed it is better to apply it directly to the eggs. Take 
the trays out of the machine and spray the eggs with 
w'arm water two or three times between the fifteenth and 
twentieth days or just before the eggs are pipped. This 
may be done with a whisk broom or an atomizer. Give 
them a thorough wetting and put them into the machine 
at once. This spraying seems to make the shells more 



56 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

brittle and thus enables the chicks to exclude themselves 
from the shells with less exertion. It is not advisable to 
open the incubator at hatching time and in very rare in- 
stances is it advisable to help the chicks out of the shell. 
Where the chick is too weak to get out of the shell un- 
assisted it will seldom live when taken out. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 57 



CHAPTER VII. 

FEED AND CARE OF THE CHICKS. 

As already intimated in a former chapter, the chicks 
should be given natural conditions as much as possible. 
One very great advantage in hatching in incubators is 
the fact that such chicks are free from lice and mites. 
This is a very great advantage both in guaranteeing the 
general healthfullness and thrift of the brood and the 
subsequent care and labor necessary to care for the flock. 
The chicks should remain in the incubator until they are 
thoroughly dry and strong. This will usually be about 
the middle of the twenty-second day. Extra ventilation 
should be given after the hatch is over and the egg trays 
with shells and dead chicks removed. Leave the chicks 
in the nursery trays and open the ventilator slides wide 
open where the incubator is provided with such arrange- 
ments. If the machine has no extra ventilation provided 
open one of the doors slightly to admit fresh air and to 
allow^ the foul air and odors to escape. Do not attempt 
to feed the chicks until they are two days old. Have 
brooders ready for them by the time they are all twenty- 
four hours old. Keep a thermometer in the incubator 
while the chicks are in and gradually reduce the temper- 
ature to about ninety degrees on the chick trays and have 
the temperature of the hover apartment of the brooder as 
near this degree as possible. 

The brooder must be clean, free from vermin, bad 
odors, lamp fumes and gases. It must have perfect ven- 
tilation and a cool floor. It must be so arranged that not 



58 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

more than fifty chicks will hover in each section and half 
that number is better. The long, narrow, hot water pipe 
brooder is the best system because the heat can be con- 
trolled better, and the lamp located in such a manner 
that no gases or fumes can enter the brood chambers. 
Young chicks need and must have artificial heat. They 
need and must have pure warm air. They need and must 
have exercise. These factors enter into the health of the 
chick more potently than the feed and feeding. The 
chick that is sick or diseased from any cause will not eat, 
digest, and assimilate any food. The chick that is 
strong and healthy, full of life and vigor, will eat, di- 
gest and assimilate almost any kind of food. This makes 
it plain that we must provide the right conditions for 
health first, then supply such food as experience shows 
to be the best adapted to the promotion of vigorous 
growth. i 

The brooder should have two apartments, the hover 
and a covered section large enough to feed the chicks in 
for some days. This covered section must be well lighted 
and dry and warm, but not as warm as the hover by twenty 
degrees. Here the chicks can be fed and given exercise 
and water until they are old enough to be allowed to run 
in the yard. No one should attempt to raise chicks in a 
brooder out in the open air. A house or enclosed shed 
should be provided. (See Fig. 10.) When the chicks 
are put into the brooder they should be confined to the 
hover for a short time until they know where the warmth 
is, then they may be allowed to come into the feeding 
apartment where cut hay, straw or chaff has been pro- 
vided for them to scratch in. Never use sawdust for 
litter as the little chicks may eat some of it and trouble 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 



59 



will speedily follow. Cover the floor of this apartment 
with the cut hay or chaff to a depth of several inches. 
Be sure to put some chick grit and crushed oyster shell 
into this litter the first day. Small seeds, such as millet, 
and hemp seed, pinhead oats, oat meal flakes, dry cracker 
crumbs, dry bread crumbs, wheat screenings, cracked 




FIG. 10. — Brooder house. It is unwise to attempt to raise 
chicks by artificial methods without suitable house room. 
Figure 10 shows one section of a house for this purpose. This 
house is 40 feet long by 12 feet wide. Has two large glass 
windows in South side with drilling cover or shade on inside. 
This house is built like Fig. 1 in every respect, excepting 
front, which is boarded tight, and windows instead of open 
front. The inside of walls are covered with heavy building 
paper to make it warmer. Such a house will accomodate three 
of the brooders shown in figures 11 and 12, and 1,000 chicks 
have been kept in this house until three weeks old. 



CO 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



wheat, finely broken corn (not meal), should be scattered 
into this litter and a small water fountain filled and 




FIG. 11. — Hot water pipe brooder. This brooder may be 
made any length up to sixteen feet. The one shown here is 
54 inches wide and 16 feet long. A temporary floor is made 
in four sections and is put in during cold weather. The cut 
shows a six-pipe coil, but I prefer a four-pipe coil made with 
one inch galvanized pipe and a copper tank 10 inches high 
by 6 inches in diameter with a two-inch flue through the cen- 
ter. Locknuts should be soldered on side of this tank, one 
at top and one at lower edge of side, to connect with pipe. 
Three permanent partitions are put in and four half-inch screen 
partitions are used. This makes eight divisions or sections of 
two feet each. The pipe coil should be 16 inches wide and be 
covered first with a heavy sheet of asbestos and then a double 
layer of narrow half-inch boards with tarred paper between. 
Cut eight pieces in circular shape, as shown in Fig. 12, and 
nail under pipes on inside of ends and on each side of the 
three partition boards. Tack a heavy wool felt hover cloth 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 61 

on these and to edge of hover boards in such a way that it 
will come down to within two inches of floor and a curtain 
hover cloth on each side of hover boards to drop to the floor. 
Cut this curtain hover cloth in four-inch strips half way from 
floor to top for chicks to creep through. In this way the chicks 
have a warm hover 2 feet by 18 inches in each section, and 
by putting in short partitions on alternate sides a run 18 inches 
by 4 feet long may be given to each lot of chicks, or the wire 
partitions may run entirely across and thus give a small run 
18 inches by 2 feet on either side of the warm hover. It will 
be seen that by this arrangement there are no corners for 
the chicks to crowd into and pile up and smother. The runs 
on either side are covered with drilling put on rolls to stretch 
over the runs and thus give a warm place for the chicks to 
exercise and feed during cold weather while they are small. 
Two of the doors on each side are made to swing out and 
two to swing in, so that two may be closed permanently when 
the brooder is used as a four section brooder. "While the chicks 
are quite small, it is advisable to confine them under the 
hovers during cold days and nights. The best device I have 
ever used for this purpose is made by nailing two pieces of 
half-inch boards, eight inches wide, together like a V-shaped 
trough as long as each section, and put these in inverted and 
close to the curtain hover. 

I use an ordinary two-flame oil stove to heat this brooder 
and have no difficulty in keeping a steady temperature. Have 
the temperature under the hover 80 to 90 degrees for day-old 
chicks, and gradually reduce this to 65 by the end of the sec- 
ond week. I prefer to use this brooder with a natural gravel 
bottom, but where this cannot be done, put the movable floors 
in place and cover one-inch deep with dry sand or loam. 1 
have repeatedly raised 400 chicks to three weeks old in such a 
brooder with a loss of less than 3 per cent. 



placed where they can reach it will be all that will be 
necessary the first week. Feed enough can be put into 
this litter to last several days. All that will be necessary 
will be to see that the hover is warm and clean and that 
the chicks go in and out freely and frequently. By the 
end of the first week the litter should be removed and 
new clean chaff or hay put in. Before putting the new 
litter in dust the floor with a little air-slaked lime, then 
put the new chaff in. Grit and oyster shell as before 



02 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



and a fresh supply of feed every day. By this time the 
chicks may be allowed to run into a small wired yard, al- 
ways keeping them in separate yards and runs. Never 
allow them to run in large flocks but keep each brood 
separate. 

Figs. 11 and 12 with notes show 1 the construction of 




• ' ■>■■'■■ 
■ 



J ? J 




: . -■■■ ■ ■■ 




FIG. 12. — Showing frame, pipe system and heater tank of 
hot water brooder. 

such a brooder and runs. This brooder may be made 
any length up to sixteen feet and will accommodate 
twenty-five chicks per lineal foot. 

When the chicks are three to four weeks old they may 
be removed to small lampless or cold brooders placed out 
of doors with movable yards or runs for each flock. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 



63 



These brooders without artificial heat may be used for the 
newly hatched chicks during warm weather and are 
cheap and easily made. Figs. 13 and 14 with notes show 
the construction of this brooder. 




FIGS. 13 & 14. — -Cold brooders may be used for chicks after 
they are three weeks old, or during May and June for newly 
hatched chicks. We have used this kind of brooders for many 
years and find them very satisfactory as a place for extra chicks 
in small runs. We make them two feet square and ten inches 
high with the lower section double wall with half-inch air 
space between inner and outer wall. The lower section is six 
inches deep with a hole cut in one side 4x4 inches square, 
covered with ordinary window screen to close at night. Top 
is three or four inches deep with tin or ruberoid cover. This 
top or cover is made large enough to slip over lower section 
where brooders are to be used out of doors. This will effectu- 
ally shed rain. Cut three-quarter-inch strips and tack or nail 
around inside top one inch from lower edge and fasten hover 



64 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



cloth of heavy wool felt loose enough to bag down three 
inches or more in the middle. Bore two or three one-inch 
holes in opposite ends of this cover for ventilation. Fifty- 
day old chicks may be kept in such a brooder for a week or 
two, when the number should be reduced to twenty-five. Put 
chaff or cut hay or straw on floor of brooder and keep it clean 
and dry. The cuts show one of these brooders that has been 
in use a long time. When not in use, they are stored in a 
dry place. They are made from three-quarter-inch lumber 
throughout and are easy to handle and clean. 




By the end of the second week the chicks should have 
meat in some form and some good, sweet, dry brand of 
beef scrap or meat meal should be used as fresh meat 
is too expensive and too perishable. This dry meat meal 
or beef scrap should always be soaked in hot water over 
night, then rub wheat bran or shipstuff" into the meat to 
make a dry, crumbly mash and feed while fresh and 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 65 

sweet. This may be seasoned occasionally with salt and 
pepper, red pepper is best, to make it appetizing. This 
meat may be fed daily as a morning ration but begin 
with a very small allowance, not more than a tablespoon- 
ful of the dry meal to twenty-five chicks. Increase grad- 
ually. This is very rich in protein and will promote 
rapid growth. Chicks fed in this way will eat whole 
wheat at two weeks old and there is no better or more 
economical feed. Corn meal made into a stiff batter 
with milk, a pinch of salt and soda and baked dry and 
hard in a slow oven makes a good fattening food after 
the chicks are four weeks old. Feed liberally but always 
be sure that the chicks have plenty of exercise. It is 
next to impossible to overfeed chicks after they are four 
weeks old if dry feed is used and they have a good sup- 
ply of grit, oyster shells, fresh, clean water and plenty 
of exercise. The sprouted grain mentioned in the chapter 
on feeds and feeding may be fed to the chicks after they 
are three weeks old. Never change feed abruptly but al- 
ways begin on any new feed gradually. Charcoal should be 
fed in some form as it keeps the bowels healthy. The best 
form of charcoal is made by burning corn on the cob 
until it is quite black, then shell it and grind or crack it 
so the chicks will eat it. This can be kept before them 
all the time in one of the small self -feeding boxes. This 
subject is treated fully in a separate chapter because it 
is the most vital subject to the poultryman and the one 
subject that means the difference between success and 
failure. If one fails to raise the chicks all the labor of 
caring for the breeding stock, the hatching of the chicks, 
the cost of incubators, brooders, oil and feed are lost and 
disappointment and discouragement will be inevitable. 



66 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



If chicks are hatched right and fed and cared for as out- 
lined in this chapter the loss will be insignificant and the 
growth and health of the chicks will be all that can be 
desired and the reward will be sure and satisfactory. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 67 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

HEALTH AND DISEASE. 

This chapter is headed health and disease {because 
health holds first place in the poultry business. There 
is no use trying to keep fowls if one cannot keep them 
healthy. There is nothing more helpless, more forlorn, 
more worthless than a sick hen. Fortunately, the hen 
is one of the last creatures to get sick if she has good, 
dry quarters, wholesome food, pure water, fresh air and 
sunshine. When she has dark, damp, filthy houses and 
runs, is crowded for room by day and by night, has her 
life blood sapped by lice and mites, is fed damp, musty, 
mouldy, rotten feed, is allowed to breed in and in gener- 
ation to generation and has no special care from year to 
year, she will in time become weakened in vitality and 
vigor that she becomes a victim of disease. When disease 
overtakes her under such conditions she quickly succumbs 
to any attack. She refuses to eat, her comb turns black 
or a livid purple, and death speedily relieves her of her 
miserable condition and surroundings. Her sisters and 
cousins having the same conditions and surroudings 
speedily follow in her wake and the owner pronounces it 
an outbreak of cholera and condemns the poultry busi- 
ness because hens are so susceptible to disease, especially 
cholera. 

If we would give our fowls nearly as good care as 
we give our horses, our cattle, sheep and swine or the 
dog, this chapter would not need to be written, because 
a sick chicken would be a rarity and the great array 



68 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

of nostrums or so-called medicines and condition powders 
would never have been compounded, and one of the great 
American fakes would never have been sprung upon the 
credulous public. Fowls and birds in a state of nature 
are never sick. It is only when we confine them in lim- 
ited quarters that we see them droop and die. This is 
the one potent argument in favor of free range. Some 
writers claim wonderful results from hens kept in limited 
quarters, and such results are possible for a short time, . 
but when we undertake it as a permanent business we 
find stern nature against us and it is only by the exer- 
cise of the most scrupulous cleanliness that we can ward 
the grim monster from our flock. Thousands of men 
have tried this intensive method and thousands have 
failed where very few have found it profitable. The 
small farm is pre-eminently the place to keep poultry. 

The question is often asked, "How many hens can 
be kept on an acre of land?" Some authorities place 
the number at 1,000 ; many at 500 ; while the more con- 
servative put the number at 200. 

Let us reason together for a moment and make some 
calculations. Take an acre of land that is eight rods 
wide and twenty rods long. This will make ten yards, 
each two rods or thirty-three feet wide by eight rods 
or 132 feet long. This will make 4,352 square feet of 
surface for each yard, or 43,520 square feet of surface 
on the acre. If we put 1,000 hens on this acre, each 
hen will have a plot of ground practically four feet wide 
by eleven feet long. Confine a hen on such a plot and 
see how long it will be until it will be bare of every vis- 
tige of green. Wire grass, honeysuckle, Canada thistle, 
any of the most troublesome weeds would fade away 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 69 

under the constant pick of that beak and the industrious 
scratchy scratch of those toenails and the incessant tread 
of the cloven feet of that hen, to say nothing of the burn- 
ing, scalding effect of the twenty ounces of liquid and 
solid manure distributed daily over this limited area. 
Think of the condition of this plot at the end of twelve 
months. Long before the twelve months had rolled 
past, the hen would be gone to that bourne whence hens 
have never returned. Every inch of that plot would be 
the most virulent poison to the hen. If we but stop a 
moment to consider we may know this could not be done. 
The extreme limit should not be over 200 hens per acre. 
Having the ten yards each two rods wide by twenty rods 
long, we could put forty hens in each of live of these 
yards. Seed the other five yards with grain, grass and 
clover and in four weeks change them to these yards 
and plough and seed the five that have been in use. In 
four weeks change again. Used and managed in this 
way, the 200 hens will be healthy and profitable and 
should lay at least 160 eggs per hen in the year. This 
would give us 32,000 eggs, worth at two cents a piece, 
$640.00. If we would attempt to put the 1,000 hens 
on this acre, contagion and disease would be inevitable 
and loss and disappointment the result. 

The three principle causes of disease are vermin, 
filth, and dampness. These are all preventable. Houses 
should be so constructed that all interior fixtures can 
be easily removed. This should be done at least twice 
each year and the interior thoroughly sprayed or washed 
with hot limewash, to which concentrated lye should be 
added, one pound to every ten gallons of the limewash. 
This will rid the house of lice and mites and make it 



If 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



clean and sanitary. Spray or wash all fixtures and put 
them in place. Keep the houses clean by cleaning the 
dropping board at least once every week, every day is 
better. Dust the roosts and dropping boards frequently 
with carbolized land plaster. Take a peck of land plas- 
ter and pour into it eight ounces of crude carbolic acid. 
Mix thoroughly and dust the roosts and dropping boards 
with it. This is a germicide and disinfectant and will 
assist very much in preventing disease. If the houses 
are constructed as outlined in Chapter II, dampness will 
not cause disease. Admit the sunshine into the open 
front every day. An ounce of prevention is worth many 
pounds of cure in the poultry business. This is why 
special stress is laid on the subject of health. Occa- 
sionally a tonic is advisable or necessary. When fowls 
show symptoms of indigestion, indicated by loss of appe- 
tite, dark combs, yellowish colored droppings, a tonic 
should be given, made by dissolving eight ounces of sul- 
phate of iron (copperas) in one gallon' of hot water. 
Put the copperas in a stone jug and add the water. 
When dissolved add one ounce of sulphuric acicl. Shake 
well and keep corked. Put one-half pint of this solu- 
tion in two gallons of the drinking water for the fowls. 
Many times serious trouble and loss may be averted by 
the timely use of this tonic and a general cleaning of 
the houses and yards. Charcoal should also be kept 
where fowls may have free access to it. The long list 
of so-called poultry diseases may be shorn of its terror 
if we but observe the laws of nature in the management 
of our flock. If a bird shows any symptoms of chronic 
or hereditary disease remove it from the flock at once. 
We approach the list of diseases with great reluctance 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 71 

because we have very little faith in remedial agents or 
medicine. 

Cholera. — We will consider the disease known as 
cholera first, because it is regarded as a very common 
disease. Many times disease manifests itself in a flock 
and fowls die and it is called cholera, when it may be 
simply an aggravated form of diarrhea caused by change 
of feed, colds, dampness, or by the fowls eating decayed 
vegetables or some poisonous seeds or plants, like night- 
shade. Cholera is a germ disease and enters the system 
only by the mouth. It is exceedingly contagious and 
fatal. It runs its course in from one to Hve days. The 
first symptom of the disease is, in a majority of cases, 
a livid purple color of the comb, a yellow coloring of 
that part of the droppings which is usually white, fol- 
lowed, by violent diarrhea, high fever, indicated by 
excessive thirst, the wings droop, a general stupor, loss 
of appetite, great weakness, and death speedily follows. 
When these symptoms are present it may be said to be 
cholera. As this is a specific germ disease, it must 
always be introduced into the flock by other fowls or 
by crows and buzzards. As soon as the disease is rec- 
ognized, the sick birds should be killed and their car- 
casses burned. The well ones should be confined in lim- 
ited quarters and these quarters thoroughly disinfected 
by using a solution of sulphuric acid or carbolic acid, 
one ounce of the acid to one gallon of water. Use an 
ordinary sprinkling can and do the work thoroughly. 
Give the fowls the tonic solution mentioned for indiges- 
tion. Treatment of the sick birds is not recommended. 
Feed well and observe them closely and remove those 
affected as soon as the symptoms appear. Kill and burn. 



72 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

Disinfect daily. Scrape the excrement up carefully and 
burn it. In this way the disease can be stamped out. 
The malady will run its course and can only be stamped 
out by killing the germs, by destroying the diseased birds 
and all excrement from diseased birds. Use only earthen 
drinking vessels for drink and medicine and scald and 
disinfect everything in use. 

Diarrhea. — This is usually caused by sudden change 
of temperature, dampness, wrong feeding, poisonous 
substances, lack of grit, stagnant water, sour mash, over- 
feeding with concentrated foodstuff like dry meal, and 
lack of exercise. Remove the cause and feed sparingly 
for several days. Let the fowls have all the dry wheat 
bran they will eat. In brooder chicks the cause of 
diarrhea is usually change of temperature in the brooder. 
The brooder hover must be kept warm enough at all 
times so the chicks will not pile up and huddle together. 
Keep it warm enough so they will spread out under the 
"mother" and not pile up. Chicks brooded and fed as 
indicated in Chapter V will not have diarrhea if the 
temperature is maintained. With hen-raised chicks 
diarrhea is usually caused by the hen leading them into 
wet grass or not brooding them when cold, and the chicks 
get chilled. Keep the hen in the brood-coop until they 
are three to four weeks old. 

Gapes. — This is really not a disease but is caused 
by a worm that hatches in the windpipe or trachea. 
These worms obstruct the passage of air through the 
windpipe and this causes the chick to gasp or gape for 
breath. The trouble seldom attacks chicks after they 
are four to six weeks old unless it is very prevalent. 
Mature fowls may have these worms, but, owing to the 



OB FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 73 

trachea being much larger, they do not show this charac- 
teristic gaping. If chicks are kept in a dry, warm 
brooder and dry rnns they rarely have this throat trou- 
ble. Air-slaked lime strewn in the runs is a good pre- 
ventive. It is communicated from one to another bv 
the chicks eating and drinking from the same vessel. 
If the chicks show the symptoms, feed them fresh raw 
pork cut in fine bits. Another simple remedy is to put 
a few drops of kerosene oil in the drinking water. It 
is much better to avoid this trouble by keeping the chicks 
on dry floors, and runs than to undertake to cure the 
trouble. Gape worm extractors, horse-hair loops, feath- 
ers and bluegrass tops, dipped in lard or kerosene oil 
are recommended by some, to be put into the windpipe 
and thus dislodge and kill the worms. This usually is 
successful in killing the chick so treated, but does no 
good in stopping the spread of the pest. 

Roup. — This is a very common disease in poultry. 
It is caused by a bacillus and is therefore infectious 
and will run through the flock if not arrested. A flock 
that is roupy and has once passed through this disease 
never recovers its former vigor and should be replaced 
by young stock from healthy stock as soon as may be. 
The symptoms are hoarseness in breathing, swelling 
about the head and eyes, a mucous discharge from the nos- 
trils, which dries and clogs the air passage, so that the 
fowl breathes through the mouth with a gasping move- 
ment. Unless the fowl so affected is very valuable it 
is far better to destroy it at once and burn the carcass. 
To attempt to doctor roup is very nearly useless. The 
fowls may apparently recover, but at the first recurrence 
of a slight cold or any sudden change in temperature 



74 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

they will again have the malady. This disease, like 
cholera, must be kept out or stamped out by cleanliness, 
disinfectants, and dry, sunny quarters. Fowls that 
roost in crowded houses where cold draughts may reach 
them are very liable to have roup. They crowd together 
for mutual warmth and then, when they are warm, a 
cold draught of air strikes them and the trouble is 
started. It may be present in a flock for days before 
the symptoms are noted, because the germ may lodge in 
the throat. It resembles diptheria in many respects. 

If the fowls are worth treating, remove them to close, 
dry quarters and treat them by local applications. To 
dope them with medicine is useless. To undertake to 
cure them in advanced stages is folly. In the early 
stage they may be treated .successfully by spraying the 
head, nostrils, throat and air passages thoroughly twice 
daily with the following solution. Dissolve one ounce 
of permanganate of potash in three pints of water, aud, 
with a small atomizer, spray the head., eyes, nostrils, air 
passages, mouth and throat twice daily until the mucous 
discharge ceases and the bird recovers its appetite. 
Another remedy that has given good results is the tar, 
turpentine liniment made as follows : Weatsfoot oil, six 
ounces ; oil of tar, two ounces ; oil origanum, two ounces ; 
turpentine, two ounces. Shake well together and, with 
a soft feather, apply to the eyes, nostrils, air tubes and 
throat. Keep the sick birds confined and give them the 
tonic solution in the drinking water. Disinfect with 
the one per cent, sulphuric acid solution all houses, runs 
and yards. 

Canker. — This is really the same as roup, or results 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 75 

from roupy conditions. The same treatment recom- 
mended for roup will apply to this disease. 

Pip. — This is not a disease, bnt cansed by the chick 
or fowl breathing constantly through the mouth, due to 
the stopping of the nostrils or air passages by colds, 
nasal catarrh, gapes, etc. The tip .of the tongue becomes 
hard and white. This must not be removed, as it is 
part of the tongue. Cure the cause and the tongue will 
soon be normal. 

Asthenia, Going Light. — This is considered by some 
writers to be due to improper feeding, lack of nutriment, 
etc., but the fact that only one or two birds may be 
the victims of this disease in a large flock certainly leads 
us to conclude otherwise. A fowl may show the symp- 
toms of this disease and may apparently recover, but will 
be found dead on the roost or in some secluded place in 
a short time. 

A fowl suffering from this disease will be found to 
be very much emaciated. Its comb will be colorless, 
gait staggering, eyes sunken, and a very "sick" general 
appearance will be noted. It has every symptom of 
tuberculosis, and may be diagnosed as such. Destroy 
the fowl and burn it and thus prevent spread of this 
infection. To treat such a fowl is a hopeless undertaking. 

Scaey Legs. — This is not a disease, but is caused 
by a ])arasite working in and under the scales of the 
leg and toes. It is contagious and spreads by the scale 
insect going from bird to bird on the roost poles. Soak 
the legs in warm soap suds to which add a tablespoonful 
of kerosene oil for every quart of strong suds. When 
the legs are dry, thoroughly saturate them with the tar, 
turpentine liniment. Repeat in six days and the scale 



76 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

will disappear. Spray the roost poles with kerosene oil 
and crude carbolic acid, two parts oil to one part car- 
bolic acid. This will effectually destroy any and all 
scale insects and mites. 

Depluming- Mite. — This is a minute insect that 
lives on the base of the quills on fowls and, when not 
destroyed, will multiply until large clusters form on 
the quills, on the neck and rump feathers. This causes 
these feathers to die and break off. If the fowls are 
badly infected, dip them in some good sheep dip on a 
warm, sunny day. If only a few are infested, rub the 
tar, turpentine liniment on the affected parts. Make a 
second application in six to eight days. 

Feather Pulling. — A vice caused by close confine- 
ment and improper feeding. Make the fowls work for 
all the feed they get by feeding in deep litter. Feed 
more meat and provide grit and charcoal. If a fowl 
becomes a confirmed culprit, roast it for dinner. 

Ego Eating. — This is a very annoying vice. If hens 
have a good range, green feed, grit and oyster shell, with 
clean, darkened nests and a good supply of fresh water, 
they will seldom form this vexing habit. Occasionally 
we find a confirmed egg eater. Such birds make good 
eating and should follow the feather puller into the 
fathomless maw of the family. 

White Diarrhea. — This is peculiar to little chicks 
and is usually the effect of wrong feeding and pro- 
longed wet weather, damp quarters and sudden changes 
in temperature in brooders. Chicks that are kept warm 
and dry and fed as indicated in this book will seldom 
or never have this disease. It may be caused by feed- 
ing too much meat. Correct these conditions and give 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 77 

the chicks boiled sweet milk and boiled rice. Doping 
with medicine will do more harm than good. 

Poisoning-. — Fowls rarely eat any poisonous sub- 
stances. They may eat common salt or salt meat or 
salt fish enough to poison them. Any of the arsenical 
preparations — Paris green, London purple, lead, copper, 
zinc or phosphorus — are fatal in their effect. Flaxseed 
boiled in sweet milk should be fed as quickly as possi- 
ble after the fowls have eaten the poison. If they 
refuse to eat, hold the bird with mouth wide open and 
fill the crop by pouring the flaxseed and boiled milk 
down the throat. 

Nightshade berries (stagger-weed) are a deadly poison 
to fowls and the foregoing remedy will effect a cure if 
used in time. The symptoms of this poison are very pro- 
nounced. The fowls will remain on the roosts all day 
and hang their heads down below their bodies, will be 
stupid, and stagger when trying to walk. Violent 
purging and a very pungent odor will be observed. 
Gather and burn all Nightshade before the berries form. 

Limber Neck. — This is ptomaine poisoning and is 
the effect of eating decomposed, putrid animal matter. 
The most virulent form of this poisoning is where phos- 
phorus paste is used for exterminating rats, mice and 
other rodents. The rodents crawl into secluded places 
and die and the fowls find the decomposed carcasses 
and an outbreak of limber neck or ptomaine poisoning 
follows. Isolate the sick birds and give them the boiled 
flaxseed and milk sweetened with sugar. Some may 
recover. Burn all dead birds and also search for and 
destroy by burning all dead animal matter and disin- 
fect the houses and yards. 



78 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

Many other diseases are named in various works 
on poultry, but prevention is far preferable to treatment, 
and nearly all poultry diseases are preventable. In the 
writer's experience of forty years with poultry, it has not 
been found necessary to treat fowls for any of the dis- 
eases enumerated excepting for nightshade and ptomaine 
poisoning and one outbreak of roup caused by housing 
a large flock in a house with a large surface of glass in 
the South side. This was removed and drilling stretched 
on large frames and put in place of the glass and the 
house thoroughly disinfected and at night, after the fowls 
were on the roosts, the house was closed and pine tar 
burned on a bed of live coals in an old kettle for three 
successive nights, and the fowls recovered with very little 
loss and bad effect. 

The cause of ninety nine per cent, of all diseases of 
poultry can be traced directly to lice, mites, improper 
feeding, damp, filthy, badly-ventilated houses, and in- 
breeding. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 79 



CHAPTER IX. 

FEEDING- FOR MARKET EGGS. 

This subject is treated in a separate chapter because 
many people want to feed for eggs for market as a means 
of increasing the profit from the fowls on the farm. 
Where one is engaged in breeding pure bred stock for 
eggs, for hatching purposes the mating should be done 
with care and judgment, but for eggs for market this fea- 
ture need not be considered, and where one raises a lim- 
ited number of chicks for laying purposes only, it will 
often be found cheaper and better to buy the eggs for 
this purpose from some reliable breeder or select the 
best yearling hens and yard them with a good cockbird 
or cockerel and hatch the eggs from this yard or pen. 
Twelve good hens will produce enough eggs to raise 
three hunderd to live hundred chicks in a season. The 
advantages of this system must be apparent to everyone. 

Feeding for market eggs must begin as soon as the 
chick comes out of the shell and the chicks should be 
hatched from eggs laid by a good laying strain of hens. 
The chicks should be hatched during March and April 
in order to have the pullets mature and laying before 
cold weather. 

The small breeds can be depended on to begin to lay 
in about five months, the medium breeds in from six to 
seven months and the large breeds in seven to eight 
months. Feed for health and rapid growth. 

As indicated in the chapter on feeds and feeding, 
corn should form a very small part of the ration for grow- 



80 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

ing chicks and should not be fed generously at any time 
excepting in very cold weather. Wheat, soaked oats, 
buckwheat, wheat bran, shipstufT, meat meal and clover 
may be combined in such proportions as to produce ex- 
cellent results. The best way to combine these feeds is 
to allow the hens to balance the ration according to their 
needs. Much is written in agricultural papers and poul- 
try journals about balanced rations for the live stock on 
the farm and there is much good sense in these theories, 
but to say that a hen shall and must eat a certain amount 
of a certain kind of feed every day is too arbitrary. 
Some hens will eat more of one kind of feed and less of 
another than other hens in the same flock and the same 

i 

individual hen will vary her desire for certain kinds of 
food from day to day. The great point in feeding for 
eggs is to feed the flock for perfect health, activity and 
contentment. If a hen is properly nourished she will 
be happy and contented. She will not be in good laying 
health if she craves for some element of food that is not 
supplied to her daily and in sufficient quantity to satisfy 
her appetite. Thus if we feed a mash composed of 
wheat bran, corn meal, shipstuff and meat meal in the 
morning and the hens do not eat with a relish we should 
feed them some other ration for a few days until they 
will again crave the mash. The same principle applies 
to the various grains. 

Some writers argue that hens on free range will ex- 
ercise too much and in this way eat more feed than;. hens 
confined in small enclosures and that hens fed in limited 
quarters may be given such rations as we want them to 
have. This sounds fine but to the man taking his meals 
regularly at the average hotel and boarding house it 



OK FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 81 

sounds like torture, especially if his occupation is of a 
sedentary character. The farmer who works the live- 
long day in the open held, fresh air and sunshine can eat 
almost anything in the way of good, wholesome food that 
is well cooked. He does eat more but he also accom- 
plishes more and has better health. The production of 
eggs is proereative and therefore depends very largely 
on good sound health, rich red blood, strong muscles, 
vigor. The hen that is lacking in any of these condi- 
tions is not in good laying condition and all of these 
physical conditions are dependant upon good appetite, di- 
gestion and assimilation and these in turn are dependant 
upon exercise in the open air and sunshine. ~No one knows 
the kind and character of the food that the hen picks up 
on the free range, neither can we estimate the amount. 

The laying flock should have all the range possible 
and in addition have their appetite tempted with a var- 
iety of feeds. The morning and noon feeds should be 
composed of the more readily digested feed stuff and the 
evening feed should be good sound grain in variety so 
that every hen in the flock will go to roost with a full 
crop. ISTo fixed rule will apply. Hopper feeding may 
be practiced with the small breeds during the spring, 
summer and fall months, when the flock is on free range 
with very gratifying results, providing a good variety of 
feed is kept before them (See Figs. 15 and 16). The 
yearling hens of the medium and large breeds are apt 
to get indolent and overfat with this system of feeding, 
therefore it is better to feed them from the hand and 
feed sparingly at the morning and noon meal with a full 
feed at the evening meal. This will induce them to take 
more exercise on the range in search of food and thus 



82 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



promote vigor. This laying flock will give better results 
and the eggs will be better and keep much longer with- 
out deteriorating in quality if no males are allowed to 
run with them. This is an advantage in various ways. 
It saves feed, room, worry and annoyance. Cockbirds 
as a rule do not dust themselves and thus become a fruit- 





FTG. 15. — 'Self-feeders. Figure 15 shows construction of a 
very satisfactory self-feeding device. This can be made any 
length, but we prefer it 4 feet long by 1 foot wide. Use 
three-quarter-inch lumber throughout. One piece 4 feet long by 
12 inches wide for bottom; two piecesi 20 inches long by 
twelve inches wide for ends. Cut one end of each to square 
mitre, as shown in figure, for roof to rest on; two pieces 
4 feet 1V-2 inches long by 4 inches wide for sides of feed box; 
two pieces same length and 5 inches wide for top of sides; one 
piece 53% inches long by 12 inches wide; one piece same length 
by 12% inches wide for roof or top; two pieces 12 inches long 
cut to square mitre for ends of top. Nail together, as shown 
in figure. 



OK FORTY YEAES WITH POULTRY. 



83 



ful field for body lice to multiply and spread to the hens. 
It is a very common practice in the South to keep one 
male to every ten females. It will be seen that by dis- 
posing of these males the flock of laying hens may be 
increased ten per cent, with no increase for feed or room. 
We consider a good, safe ten per cent investment, a very 
desirable proposition. 

The small breeds may be kept profitably as layers 
until they are three and even four years old. The med- 
ium breeds should be disposed of by the close of the 
second laying year and the large breeds at eighteen to 
twenty months old. The older hens of the large breeds 
are too much inclined to broodiness to be profitable as 
egg producers the second year. 




FIG. 16. 
and filling. 



-Showing self-feeding hopper open for cleaning 



84 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



CHAPTEE X. 

THE BREEDING PEN. 

The breeding pen system of producing eggs for hatch- 
ing purposes has much to commend it to the farmer who 
is desirous of obtaining best results. By this system we 
mean the selection of the best specimens of the type of 
birds desired, either by selection from our own stock or by 
purchase. This breeding flock may consist of a few birds 
or many, according to our circumstances and needs. If 
we want but a few eggs a pen of four to six females will 
answer. If we want many, eggs a large flock may be se- 
lected and mated to give excellent results for utility stock 
and many fine show birds have been raised in this way. 
It is always to be presumed that each breed is to be kept 
pure. The first consideration is to familiarize one's self 
with the breed or breeds that are mated. The standard 
requirements must be plainly understood, then select 
such individuals as will fairly represent the standard 
qualifications in both sexes. No one should undertake to 
sell eggs for hatching from a yard or pen of fowls until 
they fully understand the points of the breed in question. 
Very much dissatisfaction results from the sale of eggs 
every year by ignorance and carelessness on the part of 
so-called breeders or fanciers in not mating standard bred 
birds. Some buy a breeding pen of each of several dif- 
ferent breeds and because they buy them for pure bred 
stock they do not inform themselves as to standard qual- 
ifications and many disqualified birds are thus allowed 
to produce eggs for hatching. This is not only careless 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 85 

but fruitful of great injury to the buyer aud to the seller, 
as well as to the entire fraternity. The stock from such 
eggs fails to satisfy the buyer and loss of confidence, 
time and money follows. Every bird used should be 
carefully examined by the help of the "American Stand- 
ard of Perfection," and every disqualified bird thrown 

out. 

Another fruitful source of trouble is in not keeping 
the different breeds separate during the entire time for 
which they are used for breeding purposes. Where two or 
more breeds are kept for breeding purposes they should 
be separated as soon as the sexes can be distinguished and 
be kept separate as long as their usefulness as breeders con- 
tinues. Where the different breeds are allowed to run to- 
gether during the fall and early winter months their use- 
fulness as breeders is ruined so far as the pullets and hens 
are concerned. 

Eggs will usually become fertile within four to six 
days after mating but the effect of such mating will con- 
tinue many months and in the writer's opinion a hen that 
is cross bred or mated to a male of a different breed is 
never entirely free from that taint. Numerous instances 
have come under the personal observation of the writer 
where hens accidentally mated with males of a different 
breed early in the season, and were thrown out of the yards 
with the laying flock without males for ten months and 
were then carefully mated to a male of the same breed, 
the eggs and chicks marked and in each instance the chicks 
chowed traces of the cross mating. In one instance a 
pullet from a White Leghorn hen mated with a Buff 
Plymouth Pock cockerel was kept away from all males 
for ten months and then mated to a White Leghorn cock, 



86 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

and the eggs were hatched separately and chicks reared 
separately. Four pullets resulted from this clutch and every 
one standard in color and shape, yet every one of the four 
laid brown-shelled eggs. Another instance: A Brown Leg- 
horn hen mated with a Buff Orpington cock and the next 
year mated to a Brown Leghorn of good color, produced 
chicks that were decidedly foxy in color and several of 
the pullets were nearly buff. 

Pullets and hens intended for breeders should not be 
forced in growth or egg production but should be fed a 
growing ration all the time and allowed to lay their eggs 
in the natural season for hatching as nearly as possible. 
This will produce more fertile eggs and stronger germs. 

The male birds should have extra care and feed dur- 
ing the breeding season. A large roomy cage or coop 
should be provided for each male, and a single perch placed 
in it and the male should be put into this cage every 
evening and confined there for several hours every morn- 
ing and given extra feed. He should have" a mash com- 
posed of equal parts of wheat bran, corn meal and 
crushed oats, a thimble full of meat meal, mixed dry, 
then moistened with sweet milk or water. Feed in a dish. 
Before turning out with the hens give a feed of wheat 
and corn, equal parts. This, with the feed he will take 
while with the hens, will insure vigor and fertile eggs. 
Breeding stock is selected many times for fancy or stand- 
ard points without regard to vigor and health, and in poul- 
try breeding vigor and perfect health are of vital import- 
ance. Very much of the loss sustained in hatching and 
rearing chicks is due primarily to lack of vigor and health 
in the parent stock. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 87 

Selling Eggs for Hatching. — As indicated in the 
beginning of this chapter, the stock should be carefully 
selected, then the flock should be well fed, have large, 
roomy houses and runs, the eggs should be gathered often 
and carefully selected and cared for. Eggs more than one 
week old should never be sold for hatching excepting by 
special agreement. The breeder should hatch some of 
these eggs throughout the season to be able to know ex- 
actly what they will do. Pack such eggs in the best man- 
ner possible, give full count and an extra one for every 
setting and guarantee full count, pure stock, safe delivery 
and nothing more. The honest breeder can, and should 
know that his eggs are fertile and all right in every way, 
but he cannot guarantee any certain results. So many con- 
ditions beyond his knowledge and control enter into the 
hatching and rearing of the chicks that it seems wise and 
good business that, if he delivers a specified number of 
good eggs to his customer at an agreed price that his re- 
sponsibility should end with the delivery of the eggs in 
good condition, from stock that he knows to be standard 
bred. 



58 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



CHAPTER XI. 



MARKETING EGGS. 



Eggs for hatching should be fresh laid, clean and uni- 
form in size and color. They should be kept in a cool 
room of even temperature. Sixty to seventy degrees is 




FIG. 17. — One hundred eggs for hatching. 



best. The best packing material known to the writer is 
wood wool made from basswood. This should be dry. 
Good baskets with strong bottoms and handles should be 



OK FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 89 

used. Baskets are handled more carefully by expressmen 
than boxes or cases. Wrap each egg in a small handful 
of the wood wool, put a layer of the wood wool in the bot- 
tom of the basket and after rolling the egg in the pack- 
ing, place it into the basket, small end down. Continue 
this until the required number are packed into the bas- 
ket. Put a layer of the packing material around the in- 
side of the basket and over the top of the eggs and sew a 
piece of cotton drilling or burlap over the top tightly. 
This makes an excellent package that will carry the eggs 
safely thousands of miles and give them some air and 
keep them from getting chilled or jostled or broken. We 
have shipped thousands of such packages with entire satis- 
faction. When eggs are received they should be taken 
out and laid away to rest for one day before being put 
under hens or in incubator. This gives the germ time to 
settle and a better hatch will result. (Fig. 17.) 

Market Egos. — Eggs intended for market should be 
fresh laid, clean and uniform in color. Small eggs and 
extra large ones should be used in the family. It may be 
true that an egg is an egg, but a clean, fresh egg, guar- 
anteed to be such, every one of them, will sell for more 
and more readily than a promiscuous lot of eggs, fresh 
and stale, clean and dirty, white and brown, all in the 
same basket. Clean, fresh eggs can always be sold at a 
premium and should be sold to the consumer direct if one 
can do so. If not, then contract with some reliable dealer 
to handle all your product and stay by him. He will thus 
be enabled to make a market for your eggs that will be 
mutually advantageous to all parties. To get a fancy 
price one must have fancy eggs and deliver them regularly 



90 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



at stated times. Thus the consumer and the dealer will 
know what they are getting and when they can get them. 




FIG. 18. — A breeding pen. 



OR FOKTY YEARS WITH POULTS Y. 91 



CHAPTER XII. 

POULTRY ENEMIES. 

The first and greatest, as :well as the meanest enemy 
that our feathered stock has is the two-legged, nondescript 
generally known as a chicken thief. We have no words at 
our command to fully describe this particular form of de- 
pravity. In the South the colored race gets the blame 
when the hen roost is robbed, but every honest citizen 
knows that this is unjust and a sort of race prejudice. A 
chicken thief is a chicken thief, whether his skin is white 
or black and the one is no better than the other, onlv the 
one with the white skin is usually more artful than his 
dusky brother and makes a larger haul, and does it more 
gracefully. He usually comes to your place under the 
guise of friendship or as a prospective customer and looks 
your flock over and studies the arrangement of your 
houses and yards in order to enable him to get the best, 
with the least possible risk. The remedy is good houses, 
good locks, a good double barreled shot gun loaded with 
buck shot, and good nerve to use it with deadly aim. Any- 
thing that steals chickens should be loaded so heavily with 
buck shot that it would be impossible for it to carry any- 
thing more than the shot. Let it be known that you will 
shoot to kill and then do it. 

Electric alarms can easily be installed in the houses 
and yards so that the night prowler will ring the bell and 
the poultryman can do the rest. The chicken thief is a 
burglar and the laws of every state will justify any citi- 
zen in shooting a burglar. 



92 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

Hawks, crows, jackdaws and eagles can be destroyed 
easily and surely by feeding the chicks and growing stock 
strychnine or nnx vomica. This may be given them in 
the mash two or three times per week for several weeks. 
Contrary to the general opinion of many people these pois- 
ons do not affect the chicks in the least, in fact are bene- 
ficial in destroying internal worms, but the flesh of the 
chick while eating the poison will kill any of the birds of 
prey, or dogs, cats, skunks, minks, weasles, rats, etc. 
Give half an ounce of strychnine or an ounce of nux vom- 
ica to every 100 chicks two to four weeks old two or three 
times per week if your flock is being destroyed by any of 
these enemies and you will soon be rid of these pests. 

The house cat and the prowling dog destroy many 
chicks every season that are supposed to be the victims 
of minks, weasles, opossums, skunks, and rats. 

The house, yards and premises generally should be 
kept clean and free from large weeds, rubbish, stone and 
lumber piles. The large gray rats may be driven away 
from buildings, where it is not advisable to use poison, 
by strewing powdered caustic potash in their burrows and 
runs under floors and walks. This will adhere to their 
feet and very soon will blister them and the rats will 
leave the premises speedily never to return. If we use the 
one-inch mesh netting on all houses, coops and runs it 
will keep these rodents out much better than the two-inch 
mesh. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 93 



CHAPTER XIII. 

MARKET POULTRY. 

The first on the list of table poultry is the young 
chicken. These are called by various names in different 
localities. If one is located near a good market or ship- 
ping point it may be very profitable to dispose of some of 
the chicks as squab broilers. These should be fed in lim- 
ited quarters and made as plump as possible. They 
should be sold when they weigh one and a half to two 
pounds per pair. If one has a good market, large hotels, 
restaurants, clubhouses, etc., this may be made a very prof- 
itable branch of the business but the product must be sold 
direct to the consumer because they deteriorate very rap- 
idly when handled by express and commission men. Good 
squab broilers often bring one dollar per pair at seven to 
eight weeks old. 

In producing these chicks one must have quick grow- 
ing, plump-bodied stock and cross-breeding will give ex- 
cellent results if intelligently done. White Plymouth Pock 
hens mated to White Leghorn cocks produce cross-bred 
chicks that make rapid growth and a very plump, close- 
feathered carcass. White Leghorn hens mated to White 
Wyandotte cocks will also produce excellent chicks for 
this purpose. Do not attempt this squab broiler business 
until yon have mastered the art of feeding and until you 
have a direct market in sight. 

Broilers, weighing from one and a half to two pounds 
each are usually quite profitable. These too, should be 
plump and "meaty" and should go direct from the farm 



94 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

to the consumer or to a quick market. If one is producing 
many chicks to be sold as broilers the crosses mentioned 
above will produce very satisfactory reults, but where one 
sells the cockerels and cull pullets only, as broilers and re- 
tains the best for breeding and egg producing purposes, 
the cross-breeding is not advisable. 

All chicks fed for table use should be fed to the limit 
with flesh and fat forming feeds. It is the plump, 
"meaty" chick that sells and we must produce it. Peed 
carefully the first four weeks as advised in the chapter on 
feeds and feeding, then increase the ration of corn and 
meat scrap to the limit of the chick's power to digest and 
assimilate without overfeeding. It is- not generally known 
but brooder chicks can easily be trained or taught 
to eat a very heavy feed at night by the light of a good 
lamp. They will soon learn to eat as much at this night 
feed, say at 10 or 12 o'clock at night, as at any of the reg- 
ular day feeds and they will gain very perceptibly on those 
not fed at night. 

Soft Roasters. — These are full grown, young, fat 
birds and should Weigh, net, six to eight pounds. There is 
also a limited demand for very large soft roasters weigh- 
ing ten to twelve pounds, but these should not be produced 
excepting for a special trade. This class of table poul- 
try usually brings best prices during March and April. 
The sexes must be fed separately for best results. 

Capons. — 'Where the large breeds are raised and one 
has plenty of room it is always profitable to caponize or 
castrate the extra cockerels. This is a very simple oper- 
ation, easily learned by anyone and very little loss will 
result if the operation is performed at the right time. 
Caponizing tools can be bought at a nominal price and full 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 95 

instructions accompany each set of tools. These lairds 
become very quiet, have small heads and combs and grow 
to etxreme weight. Brahmas, Cochins and Orpingtons 
are favorite breeds for caponizing with a growing prefer- 
ence for the Orpingtons. 

Capons should be fed in clean, limited quarters until 
fully matured which will usually be at ten to twelve 
months old. Many of these weigh twelve to fifteen 
pounds and often sell at twenty cents per pound. Capons 
should always be shipped and sold dressed as they are too 
soft and tender to be roughly handled. All of the fore- 
going special table poultry brings much better prices in 
the larsre cities in the North and Northeast, beffinnin": 
with Washington, D. C. 



96 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 



CHAPTEE XIV. 



GENERAL REVIEW. 



In every well conducted school the pupils are required 
to review the work gone over. Let us review some of the 
main features of the work. 

In the first place do not make the mistake too common- 
ly made in selecting breeding stock. Study carefully your 
own taste, your location, the size of your farm, your mar- 
ket and what line of work you expect to specialize in. 
Do not imagine for a moment that you will make more 
money with eight or ten pens of different breeds. One 
good breed is far better than many. 'No breeder should at- 
tempt to keep more than two breeds. 

If eggs for market is to be the main business do not 
select one of the large breeds. This book is written for 
truthful information, not to advertise any breed or ap- 
pliances. The author has had forty years experience in 
poultry matters, and is entirely free and unhampered 
by prejudice, financial interests or friendship, to give un- 
biased advice, based on personal experience and observa- 
tion with all the breeds mentioned in this book and some 
others, and nothing will be written that is not backed by 
experience. Therefore what is said in this connection 
must be understood as applying to actual experience. We 
have never been able to get a strain of any of the medium 
or large breeds that would produce as many eggs per hen 
per year as the small breeds. Some breeders advertiser 
strains of the medium and large breeds as equal in egg 
production to the small breeds but we have never succeeded 



OK FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 97 

in getting the results from these strains claimed for them 
by the advertisers, hence we repeat, if eggs are wanted for 
market select one of the small breeds. 

There are two breeds not mentioned in the class of 
small fowls as enumerated in this 'book that are very sat- 
isfactory egg producers. These are the Blue Andalusians 
and the Harnburgs. 

The Andalusian is larger than the Leghorn but very 
similar in disposition and general characteristics and in 
size is but a trifle larger than the average Leghorn. 

In breeding these small breeds it is always well to be 
governed by the standard size and qualifications and not 
attempt, by selection and feeding to produce birds of large 
size. It is desirable to preserve the true size, shape and 
symmetry of all the breeds. 

Where eggs and the production of meat are to be com- 
bined the medium breeds are unquestionably to be pre- 
ferred. The Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes and Rhode 
Island Reds are good layers and average about one-third 
larger than the small breeds. 

As noted in the preceding chapter the Rocks and Wy- 
andottes are perhaps the best fowls for cross-breeding 
with the small breeds for the production of plump, quick- 
growing broilers that we can select. 

For heavy roasters nothing can equal the Brahmas and 
Orpingtons. The latter are better in quality and texture 
than the Brahma but do not get as heavy by several 
pounds. 

With these facts in view one may select the breed for 
the purpose and not be misled. 

It is a mistake to undertake to breed the small fowls 
in close quarters. They will not thrive and cannot be as 



( J8 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

closely confined as the medium or large breeds. There- 
fore the man with limited range should select one of the 
medium breeds. 

Where the market demands white shelled eggs the 
small breeds must be selected and for brown-shelled eggs 
the medium and large breeds must be chosen. 

Housing and yarding of all the domestic fowls must 
be done with a view to the health and comfort of the flock. 
Dampness must be avoided. Fresh air and sunshine are 
the most potent factors for health. 

A great variety of good, sound, sweet feed must be 
provided and the flock must be fed liberally but judicious- 
ly. Feed for contentment and health. The medium and 
large breeds can be overfed on carbonaceous foods, but 
the small birds on free range will seldom get too fat. 

All must have a constant supply of fresh, clean water, 
grit, oyster shell, charcoal and green feed. Meat in some 
form must also be given regularly. 

Do not feed musty, mouldy, heated 'grain or rotten 
vegetables or sloppy feeds. 

Provide a good dusting place in a sunny exposure. 

Keep the houses clean and free from strong odors, 
mites and disease germs by spraying or washing with hot 
lime wash. Have plenty of darkened nests and have them 
clean. 

Do not allow dogs in your poultry houses and yards. 
Do not worry or excite your hens at any time or under 
any circumstances. It reduces the egg yield. 

Never allow a broody hen to sit on a nest over night 
unless you intend to give her a clutch of eggs. Put her in 
a roomy yard with a male bird and feed her soaked oats 



OK FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 99 

and wheat and she will lay in a few days. If you allow 
her to set a few days she will not lay an egg in less than 
twenty days. 

Put setting hens in a separate house and in individ- 
ual nests. Keep them free from lice and mites by dust- 
ing with lice powder and mix some of the lice powder in 
carbolized vaseline and rub into the short feathers on the 
heads of the sitting hens to kill the head lice before the 
chicks hatch. 

Read Chapter V again, Feeds and Feeding, also Chap- 
ter VII, Feed and Care of Chicks. 

Never sell a bad or dirty egg or an old tough lean 
fowl. Eat them yourself if they must be used by any- 
body. 

Don't buy a cheap incubator unless you are looking 
for disappointment and trouble. 

Shun the three hundred egg advertisers. Two hun- 
dred eggs per year per hen is plenty. Don't expect to 
make $500.00 from twenty hens in one year. Cut these 
figures down about $450.00. and then subtract $20.00 
You can make more than thirty dollars from the eggs of 
twenty hens if you hatch them but you will be making 
this money from the young stock, not from the hens. 

If you advertise, make your advertisements short, 
plain and truthful. Do not advertise stock and eggs at 
"half price." That is too cheap to be good. 

Do not go in partnership with anybody but your wife. 

Remember that cleanliness is next to Godliness. God- 
liness is a rare but useful attribute. 

A good doctor tells his patient how to live to avoid 
disease. Be a good doctor to your flock and keep them 
in good health. 



100 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

If you want to live without working do not engage 
in poultry raising. Be a tramp. 

Do not try to keep liens in your family garden. It will 
spoil the sweetest disposition. 

If a hen persists in feather pulling, pull her feathers. 
It's the best remedy. 

If she eats her eggs when she has plenty of other feed, 
eat her. It is the most satisfying disposition you can 
make of her. 

If your hens stand around in clusters and sleep in the 
daytime they have indigestion and need grit and a tonic. 
Give them clean, sharp grit and a handful of ginger in 
their morning mash for every twenty hens. A table- 
spoonful of red pepper will also put warmth and energy 
into their sluggish blood. 

Do not compel them to eat snow and ice in the winter. 
They will lay fresh eggs, if you take the chill off of their 
drinking water. 

Save all the hen manure. Mix it with twice its bulk 
of dry loam and keep it in a dry place. Do not sell it 
for thirty cents per barrel. It is worth one dollar per 
barrel in your garden or potato patch. 

Do not bury diseased hens. Dogs and skunks will 
dig them out and spread the disease. Burn them. 

Eoast a good fat hen occasionally and thus cultivate 
a taste for poultry. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 



101 




CHAPTEK XV. 



TURKEYS. 

The turkey is an American fowl. We have six dis- 
tinct breeds recognized by the Standard, the Black, 
Bronze, Narragansett, Buff, Slate and White. The Bronze 
is the largest, Narragansett a close second with the other 
four breeds about equal in size. Single specimens of the 
Bronze have been fed to weigh over fifty pounds. 

The objection to the Bronze and Black breeds is their 
inclination to roam. They must have a very large range 
to thrive and be healthy. The hens, as a rule, are very 
moderate layers. They are hardy and are really only one 
step removed from the native wild turkey of ISTorth 
America. 

The White and Buff are very domestic and do not roam 
like the Black and Bronze and are more prolific. Hens 



102 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

of these breeds frequently lay eighty to ninety eggs in a 
single season. They mature quickly and make a very 
plump carcass in six months. The ISTarragansett is similar 
to the Bronze in every respect excepting in color and the 
Slate is similar to the Buff and White. . 

Breeding and raising turkeys is quite profitable where 
one has sufficient range. It is almost impossible to grow 
them to maturity in confinement. Many people fail in 
this enterprise because they try to keep their breeding- 
stock yarded and the young are weak in consequence of 
this confinement of the parent stock and soon pine away 
and die. 

We must remember that the domesticated turkey is but 
a few steps or generations removed from the native or 
wild species and we must give them natural conditions 
if we want to succeed with them. For many years we 
tried to raise turkeys in large yards and house the young 
during rainy weather and at night, but always failed. 
Then we gave them the range of a large farm. Did not 
force them to early laying and simply gave them their 
freedom. Six hens and one torn of the Bronze variety 
were treated in this way and not a single egg was taken 
from the nests. They laid in bushes and clumps of briars 
and laid from twelve to seventeen eggs each. They hatched 
in May and early June and every egg but two produced 
poults and they were allowed to roam at will. rTo feed 
was given them until the mother hens brought them to 
the orchard near the house. Here we fed them wheat and 
coin bread soaked in sweet milk whenever they came up. 
Later we fed them whole wheat and cracked corn and by 
October 1st they came regularly for their feed of whole 
coin and wheat. The six hens raised to maturity eighty- 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 10 O 

four turkeys and the following year the same six liens 
raised, by same method, sixty-seven. This was fifteen 
years ago and we have raised from twenty to fifty every 
year since in the same way, excepting two years since we 
came to Virginia when prowling dogs destroyed the nests 
or young. From this experience, and very much observa- 
tion, we emphatically say that turkeys must have a large 
range, including some timber and water, and let them 
have nature's way. 

Turkeys to be healthy must roost high in the open air. 
They must have a range sufficient in extent to afford them 
insects to feed their young the first month at least, and 
very much of their food during the entire period of their 
growth must come from the range. A flock of turkeys will 
keep a farm free from insects of all kinds, including 
tomato and tobacco worms and do very little damage to 
growing crops. During the past fifteen years we have not 
housed a turkey and have not lost but one by disease and 
none by rains or dew. 

Roup, blackhead, liver and bowel trouble are all the 
direct result of housing and overfeeding with food stuff 
that does not agree with the nature of the turkey and it, 
is folly to dope them with medicine in the hope of effect- 
ing a cure. 

Mate strong, vigorous stock. Keep them out of doors. 
Keep them in moderate flesh during winter and early 
spring so they will not begin to lay before April, then give 
them freedom. Kill all the prowling dogs. Feed the 
young only when the hens bring them to the house, or 
yards and when the young are half grown feed liberally 
at evening and you will have less trouble, less worry and 
more turkeys. 



104 



SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 




CHAPTEK XVI. 

DUCKS. 

We have ten varieties of ducks described in the Stand- 
ard. The Pekin is the largest and most popular. Several 
breeds are very prolific layers of large, well-flavored eggs. 
The Indian Runner is small in size but lays fine large 
eggs and is considered the greatest egg-producer of any 
of the duck family. 

The young are very hardy and grow very rapidly. 
They must have a good run on grass, have plenty of fresh 
water to drink and be fed on soft feed until nearly ma- 
ture. During the breeding and laying season they must also 
be fed soft food if a full supply of fertile eggs are 






OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 105 

wanted. Ducks lay their eggs very early in the morning 
and must be confined until all have laid or their eggs will 
be lost. Unlike other fowls the duck seldom makes a nest 
but drops her egg anywhere. 

Young ducks are considered a great delicacy by some 
epicures and usually bring a fair price, but we have never 
been favorably impressed with duck raising as a business. 

The young need very little brooding but should have 
a dry, clean floor to roost on and a good roof over them. 

The germ in a duck egg is very strong and they hatch 
well in incubators. When the ducklings are hatched and 
thoroughly dry they should be removed to shallow boxes 
in a warm room. Have the floor of these boxes covered 
with clean, sharp sand. Give fresh water to drink, in 
shallow trays or dishes and feed may be given after tin 
ducklings are twenty-four hours old. They should be fed 
the first four days on hard-boiled eggs, bran and oatmeal 
made into a soft mash with sweet milk. After they are 
four or five days old they should be given a run on grass 
in a small enclosure and fed a mash composed of three 
parts wheat bran ; two parts corn meal and some meat meal 
Do not give much meat at first but by the time the duck- 
lings are three weeks old ten per cent, of their feed may 
be meat meal if they are intended for market. Moisten 
this mash with sweet milk or water and season slightly 
with salt. 

Always have water before the ducklings to drink. 
They must have water when feeding as they will take a 
mouthful of mash and a sip of water, feed and water un- 
til their hunger is satisfied, if you have feed enough. At 
four weeks old the feed may be five parts bran, four parts 
corn meal and one part beef scrap or meat meal. Mix 



106 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

this dry, then make into a mash with milk or water and 
feed liberally for four weeks. At eight to nine weeks 
old the dncks should weigh four to five pounds and should 
be sold at this age. If not sold before they are ten weeks 
old the adult feathers start and they cannot be sold for 
six or eight weeks. Ducks have a ravenous appetite when 
growing and must be fed liberally to make rapid growth. 
One hundred ducklings at four weeks old will consume 
twenty to twenty-four quarts of the dry mash mixture at 
a single feed and they should be fed four to five times per 
day. They are comparatively free from disease and ver- 
min and where one has a good market and a suitable place 
they are quite profitable. 

Geese. — This book is written wholly from the practi- 
cal experience of the author and I have never raised or 
owned a goose. I do not know a single item to say for or 
against this stately fowl only that they have never appealed 
to me in any way. 



OB FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 107 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

FANCY FEATHERS. 

The pages of this book are dedicated to plain, practi- 
cal utility fowls, not because the so-called fancy fowls 
have no value, but because the great mass of poultry keep- 
ers are interested in utility stock and want stock that is 
ready sale in the market at all times. 

Some of the fancy breeds like the Polish, Games, 
Game Bantams, Ornamental Bantams, Japanese Bantams, 
Polish Bantams, Silkies, Sultans and Frizzles are won- 
derful creations of the fancier. They show the possibil- 
ities of careful study in mating and development and some 
single specimens have sold for large sums of money, sim- 
ply because of certain striking characteristics of feather 
marking difficult to produce. 

Very few of the utility breeds have been brought to 
the standard requirements without the aid of the fancier, 
hence we owe much to that patient, painstaking class of 
scientific breeders for the perfection attained in the pro- 
duction of the utility breeds. 

The difference between a fancier and a poultryman 
is very plainly seen at any of the poultry shows. The 
fancier looks at and admires the fine marking, lacing and 
correct shape and carriage of the various breeds, while 
the poultryman notes the size and vigor, the shape of the 
breast and body as an egg type and a few feathers makes 
no difference to him. - 

With the fancier it is clearly a case of fine feathers 
inakina: a fine bird. With the utility breeder the fowls 



108 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

must show business qualifications. Fancy fixes the value 
in the one case and the other is purely a commercial propo- 
sition. 

There can be no more fascinating diversion than the 
breeding of some of these fancy fowls for pets, and many 
men have found health and pleasure in caring for a pen 
of some of these interesting little autocrats. 

Some men cannot produce these fancy feathers to save 
their lives, and naturally turn to the egg producers and 
flesh growing types. 

There is room enough in this big country of ours for 
all classes of fowls, and people admire and buy them, 
and there is no reason why every man should not have *an 
andisputed right to indulge his taste to the limit of his 
time and means. 

In conclusion, we have but one desire, one hope, and 
that is that all poultrymen and women, all fanciers, may 
unite in their every effort to produce better conditions 
for this great industry and improve every branch of this 
attractive and profitable occupation. 

In the New South we especially need improvement 
in our flocks, our methods, our markets and our exhibi- 
tions. Let us strive for better stock, higher ideals, nobler 
aims. We have the climate, the soil, the markets, every 
natural advantage to assure success, and if we assert our 
faith in our calling by working for supremacy in the bus- 
iness we will soon find ourselves not only master of the 
markets but leaders in the show-room. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 109 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

A FEW POINTS OK" ECONOMICS. 

Preserving Eggs. — Very often we have a large sup- 
ply of eggs during April and May and the price is not sat- 
isfactory, or we may have only a few hens and want to 
keep some of these surplus eggs for use during the fall 
and winter months when the hens are moulting and not 
laying. Many thousand crates of eggs are kept in cold 
storage and in many instances are sold as fresh laid eggs. 
This is very common in the South. Farmers cannot, or 
do not, make use of cold storage and usually sell the eggs 
regardless of price. Cold storage eggs have a peculiar, 
stale, musty taste, very disagreeable to a person accus- 
tomed to first-class fresh eggs. 

Every farmer's wife can preserve eggs and keep them 
in much better condition than in cold storage. For this 
purpose the eggs should be sterile, that is, the flock of 
hens should have no males with them. Such eggs will 
keep very much better than fertile eggs. They should 
have good hard shells, be perfectly clean and be gathered 
twice daily and put in the preserving liquid as fast as 
gathered. Stone jars holding four to six gallons are best 
for this purpose. They must be perfectly clean. As fast 
as the eggs are collected and cool place them in the stone 
jar, small end down, and cover them with a ten per cent, 
solution of water glass (silicate of soda). This can be 
bought at any drug store. Take one quart of the water- 
glass and nine quarts clean, cold water. Mix thoroughly 
by pouring from one vessel to another several times. Pour 



110 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

over the eggs until they are all covered or submerged. 
When the jar is full cover with a plank lid and set away 
in a cool place. Good, sound, fresh, sterile eggs preserved 
in this way will keep perfectly for one year. 

When wanted for use take them out and rinse in tepid 
water. Eggs kept in this way are just as good for every 
culinary purpose as new-laid eggs, excepting for boiling 
in the shell. The shells are liable to crack if they are 
dropped into boiling water. If you want to boil them 
put them into warm water and bring to the boiling point 
gradually. 

Because such eggs are as good as now laid eggs it k 
no reason that they should be sold as such. They can be 
sold as preserved eggs at a good price and consumers will 
always buy them in preference to storage eggs. 

Feathers. — Poultrymen who sell dressed poultry can 
save considerable money by getting a market for the 
feathers. The fowls must be dry picked and tail feathers, 
wing feathers and body feathers kept separate. After 
picking spread them out to dry in an airy loft and when 
thoroughly cured pack in clean burlap bags for shipment. 
Twenty to fifty cents per pound can be realized for first- 
class feathers. 

Hen Manure.— Very much fertility is lost and wasted 
on many farms in various ways and the manure from the 
fowls is not always cared for and used as judiciously as 
it deserves. Some people have an idea that hen manure 
is equal to Peruvian guano as a fertilizer. This is not the 
case but where a flock is fed for egg production and fed 
large quantities of bran and meat meal and bone the 
manure has a very much greater value than the manure 
from any of the farm animals. It is worth fully five 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. Ill 

times as much per ton as cow or horse manure and four 
times as much as sheep manure. The manure must be 
kept dry and also be stored in some way to keep it from 
heating. This can be done by mixing with twice its bulk 
of dry loam. Land plaster (gypsum) or raw phosphate 
rock (floats) can also be mixed with it and this increases 
its value very much. 

The dropping boards should be made with matched 
lumber and the loam, plaster or floats spread on the boards, 
then when the manure is collected it will be thoroughly 
mixed with the absorbent and it will keep in perfect con- 
dition until wanted if kept in barrels or boxes in a dry 
place. The average analysis of fresh hen manure from 
a flock fed for eggs and hence fed a full ration of wheat 
bran and meat meal, shows the following available or sol- 
uble elements of plant food. 

Nitrogen 1.50 per cent.; phosphoric acid, 1 per cent.; 
potash, .70 per cent. 

Mixed stable manure shows the following analysis : 
Nitrogen, .50 per cent.; phosphoric acid, .30 per cent.; 
potash, .60 per cent. 

Hen manure contains much less water per ton than 
stable manure and is more readily available, hence its 
greater value for early maturing plants or for rapid 
growth. 

It may be used as a base for mixing a very high grade 
fertilizer by using ground rock (floats) to mix with the 
hen manure and compost it to make the phosphatic ele- 
ment of the rock available. This rock contains about 
thirty per cent, phosphoric acid but must be composted 
with manure or vegetable matter to make it available. 
Thus if we compost one ton of fresh hen manure with 



112 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

one ton of ground rock and then mix with this five hun- 
dred pounds of muriate of potash and five hundred pounds 
of dried blood we will have a complete fertilizer showing 
a verj satisfactory analysis of plant food with no objec- 
tionable acid content. The analysis will be approximately 
tiitrogen, 2 per cent. ; phosphoric acid, 14 per o ent. ; pot- 
ash, 6 per cent. This will cost here at Richmond, Va., as 1 
follows : One ton ground rock, $12.00 ; 500 pounds muriate 
of potash $13.00; 500 pounds dried blood, $13.00. Total, 
$37.00 for two and one-half tons of fertilizer or nearly 
$15 00 per ton. This is less than one-half the cost of 
any fertilizer on the market showing a similar analysis. 

Hen manure should always be used in this way, as a 
base for high grade chemicals but should not be mixed 
with anything except the ground rock until it is wanted 
for use. 

Do not mix lime or wood ashes with hen manure at 
any time until wanted for immediate use. 

Where hen manure is allowed to remain under the roost 
for any length of time it should be covered frequently 
with dry loam and land plaster to prevent the escape of 
the ammonia as this removes much of its value as a fer- 
tilizer and is also very injurious to the fowls. 



OR FORTY YEARS WITH POULTRY, 113 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

SELECTING LAYING HENS. 

We have said very little, if indeed, anything, in regard 
to selecting laying hens. Some men claim to be able to 
select the best layers by sight or by some peculiar forma- 
tion or type. Some use trap nests but this book is written 
for busy, business people and the trap nest is too much 
trouble and the selection of the laying hens 'by sight or 
shape is too uncertain. Experience will enable one +^ 
select good layers with reasonable certainty in hens as in 
cows, horses, sheep and swine. The cow that has a de- 
cided wedge shape, a large, broad muzzle, a bright eye, a 
soft, unctious skin, a long, slim tail, thin shins, big feet 
and a well developed udder is nearly always a good dairy 
animal. She must have perfect health. 

So with the hen. She should show this same charac- 
teristic wedge shape, long in the back, perfect in form and 
feather, bright red comb and wattles, large bright eyes, 
good strong beak, a large crop, straight, strong legs, good 
feet and toes, straight, long breast bone and a feminine 
appearance throughout. 

She must be active, alert and always busy. It is very 
easy to pick out the drones. The business hen is usually 
the first one off the roost, the first in the garden, the first 
at the feed trough and the first in the nest. She is usually 
very domestic in her general demeanor but does not want 
to be handled. She sings that merry song so cheerfully 
that she brings sunshine and happiness to her owner. She 
is the first to lay as a pullet and the last to stop at moult- 



114 SOUTHERN POULTRY GUIDE 

ing time. She moults quickly and very often will lay 
during this period. 

Such hens are always conspicuous in a flock and can 
easily be selected for breeding purposes. This is un- 
doubtedly the best method to pursue to get good layers. If 
we will select ten or twelve such hens and yard them in 
a good roomy yard, and select a good type of male birds 
of same general characteristics to make up our breeding 
pens we will soon have a strain of very superior layers 
with very little trouble. With a yard of twelve such hens 
it is an easy and simple matter to keep a daily record of 
the egg yield for six months beginning with January, and 
if they average ten eggs per day for this period they are 
good enough. This will be 1,810 eggs in 181 days or an 
average of 150 eggs for each hen for this period. Mate 
these hens the next year to a typical cockerel hatched 
from eggs laid by them and this laying trait will be in- 
tensified. The cock bird, if a good one, may be mated 
the next year to a pen of pullets from his flock and this 
line breeding will give excellent results if skillfully done. 
Great care is required in selecting birds for this purpose. 
Avoid every defect and select birds with perfect health 
and great vigor. 

The master cockerel, if a good specimen is the best 
for this purpose. The survival of the strongest is nature's 
way of selecting males and we cannot devise a better way 
to determine vigor of body than by this natural way. 

In and in-breeding and line breeding must be thor- 
oughly studied and understood before one should attempt 
it, and for such information one must go into technical- 
ities and heredity as well as genealogical lines of descent, 
and this is beyond the scope of this book. The various 



OR FOKTY YEARS WITH POULTRY. 115 

breeds mentioned in this book are all good for the purpose 
for which they were made and there are many strains of 
each of these breeds, bred to standard requirements and 
one can always procure new blood that will be satisfacr 
tory and by judicious selection of such desirable strains 
it is not necessary to practice in-breeding to any great 
extent to maintain desirable traits in the farm flock. 

The great aim and object for the poultryman to strive 
for is perfect health and vigor in every bird in his flock 
with the particular trait of character either for egg pro- 
duction, size and quality of the carcass or a blending of 
the two developed to the uttermost without sacrificing 
Standard qualifications and vigor. 

Finale. — I sincerely hope that the plain facts set 
forth in the pages of this little book may prove helpful 
to the people engaged in the business of commercial egg 
and poultry production. I have given my experience in 
as plain language, as short a space and as concise as pos- 
sible. I do not say that this is the only way or the best 
method, but I say that the practice of the methods and 
principles laid down in this book have been found satis- 
factory to me. 



INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Artificial Incubation 51 

Asthenia (going light) 75 

A Few Points in Economics 109 

Breeds and Breeding 27 

Breeding 33 

Begin, How to 37 

Brooders (Illustrated) 42-48-60- 62 

Brooders (Illustrated) , 58-60- 62 

Brooder Houses (Illustrated) 58-59 

Brooders, Cold (Illustrated) 63 

Breeding Pen, The 84 

Broilers 93 

Conditions Necessary to Success 9 

Cement Foundations 13 

Colony Houses (Illustrated) .20-22 

Cross-Breeding 34 

Chicks, to Feed 40-41- 57 

Cold Brooders (Illustrated) 63 

Charcoal for Chicks 65 

Carbolized Land Plaster 70 

Cholera 71 

Canker 74 

Capons 94 

Dropping Boards 15 

Disease, Causes of 69 

Diarrhoea 72 

Depluming Mites 76 

Ducks 104 

Eggs for Hatching 53-87 

Egg Eating 76 

Eggs, Feeding for Market 79 

Enemies, Poultry 91 

Electric Alarms 91 

Economics, A Few Points in 109 

Fences 24 



118 INDEX. 



PAGE. 



Feeds and Feeding . 40 

Feed and Care of Chicks 57 

Feather Pulling 76 

Fertility of Eggs 85 

Fancy Feathers 107 

Feathers 110 

Glass for Poultry Houses ."' 23 

Grit . . . , 45 

Gapes 72 

General review 96 

Housing the Flock . .' 11 

How to Begin 37 

Health and Disease 67 

How Many Hens on One Acre 68 

Hopper Feeding (Illustrated) 81 

Hen Manure 110 

Interior of Houses (Illustrated) 16-17 

Incubation, Natural and Artificial 47 

Incubation, Artificial 51 

Keeping Eggs for Hatching 53 

Large Poultry House Plans 12 

Laying Feeds 43 

Lime 45 

Lice Ointment 48 

Lime Wash 69 

Limber Neck 77 

Laying Hens, Selecting 113 

Mites 15 

Moisture in Hatching 54-55 

Meat for Chicks 64 

Market Eggs, Feeding for 79 

Male Birds, Care of 86 

Marketing Eggs 88 

Market Eggs 89 

Market Poultry 93 

Manure, Hen 110 

Nests (Illustrated) .17-18-19 



INDEX. 119 

PAGE. 

Nest and Broodcoop (Illustrated) , 49-50 

Open-Front Houses . • 14 

Poultry Tonic (Douglass' Mixture) 70 

Pip 75 

Poisoning 77 

Poultry Enemies 91 

Preserving Eggs 109 

Roosts 14 

Regularity in Feeding 44 

Room for Incubators 55 

Roup 73 

Rats, to Drive Away 92 

Self-Feeding Hoppers (Illustrated) 19-82- 83 

Sprouted Oats and Grain 45 

Setting Hens, Nests (Illustrated) 48- 49 

Scaly Legs 75 

Selling Eggs for Hatching 87 

Strychnine for Chickens 92 

Squab Broilers 93 

Soft Roasters 94 

Selecting Laying Hens 113 

Temperature for Hatching 54 

Tonic 70 

Tar, Turpentine Liniment 74 

The Breeding Pen 84 

Turkeys 101 

Ventilation in Incubators 54 

Water Fountain (Illustrated) 19-21 

White Diarrhoea 76 

Yards and Runs 22 






DEC 12 



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